Memoirs of a Fangirl
by Miyuusen
Summary: I didn't want to help them, no matter how much I liked them. No, I was quite content with watching everything unfold the way it had been planned, the way Masashi Kishimoto wanted things to go. But life is unsurprisingly unfair, and it seems my soul has made a bigger plot twist than I ever thought possible. Self Insert, OC. Slight AU. Humor Based, Non-Parody.
1. Chapter 1

Memoirs of a Fangirl

by Miyuusen

1

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**A/N**: I've been thinking to myself lately: What if there was an SI that _didn't_ want to help the Naruto cast, what if it was someone who valued the original for what it is and didn't want anything different. So I decided to channel the side of myself that makes Rikeya Miyamura, her. A fangirl who doesn't like change. Also this is humor based, so don't expect anything too serious.

**Summary**: I didn't want to help them. No, I was quite content with watching everything unfold the way it had been planned, the way Masashi Kishimoto wanted things to go. But life is unfair, and it seems my soul has made a bigger plot twist than I ever wanted. SI OC. Slight AU.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. This goes for the whole story.

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Urban Dictionary described a fangirl quite fittingly: A rabid breed of human female who is obsessed with either a fictional character or an actor. Similar to the breed of fanboy. Fangirls congregate at anime conventions and livejournal. Have been known to glomp, grope, and tackle when encountering said obsessions.

I, of course, connect with this on a spiritual level as I could recall the surprisingly spot-on definition. I only had one thing to say about the matter of what I am.

Life as a fangirl rocked. I lived, and ultimately died as one.

Sure there some downsides. Like how it was heartbreaking knowing your loved ones would never take physical form and could never love you back. And how you agonized when your characters did, felt pain and sorrow and cried for them when they had to stay strong and keep it in. Like in Naruto, my _all time_ favorite show and manga, a lot of the scenes were emotionally charged, keeping me enthralled in the story with a passion.

But there were the good things too. Like when the character was happy or they were improving. You could laugh at inside jokes that people in real life couldn't understand. Basically, it was a nice thing to be. However, if you were a fangirl, you were either deemed too loud, or too obsessive but I, being self proclaimed, _owned_ those attributes. And it brought me friends, people who loved Naruto as much as I did, who fixated on each detail and expressed disdain for certain ships or characters who expressed their _love_ for certain ships and characters. It brought me skills, things I would have never strived for if I hadn't been influenced. I could draw quite well from the _years_ I spent drawing fanart. I could write too, as I was inevitably drawn to fanfiction due to my love of books. I could even understand Japanese and in all honesty, being a fangirl was fun. It was a job (if you could even call it that) filled with expression and inspired creations.

But I was probably more of the... _way_ too consumed fangirl. Not only did it get in the way of my studies, but I put a certain distance around myself to my family. And even today, when I can recall such specific detail from the manga, I can't see their faces in my mind's eye. Of course, when I realize it, I feel a bit guilty and loathe myself. But then I recalled the way I died and well, those feelings kind of vanish after a while.

Now, you're probably wondering why I keep stressing the fact that I'm a fangirl. There's a reason for that: to inform you the backing of my choices for this new life.

I was born into the Naruto-verse. Cool, right? You are so terribly wrong it's not even funny. There is no life of ease, no relaxing around and playing. Even if you're young and an orphan, like I was, you're expected to be responsible. Was I? Uhm, probably not as much as I could have been.

Now, if you think I was born into a clan with an awesome kekkei genkai, well I'll just let you know that aside from my memory and smarts, I was relatively average. Pathetically, moronically average actually. I am the Nonchalant Average Joe. Meaning, no Mary-Sue life for me. And God damn it, how much I wanted that.

Who wouldn't? It meant life came easy to you and you were loved, and in all honesty, life had never been an easy thing for me to deal with.

But this time around, I didn't even get small mercies, like loving parents, or a sibling. No, I was alone. The remainder of what the Miyamura family once was. This meant I had a choice though, right? To either become a shinobi of Konoha, or a villager, whose worries in life were considerably lessened. Well I actually didn't get to choose. Unbeknownst to most people was the fact that orphans had their life decided the moment they were left behind. But it depended on the age.

If you were of the ages 4 to 7, you had a higher chance of being sent to the Academy to train as a shinobi and earn your living that way. If you were of the ages 7 to 10, you could very well become a villager and were sent to facilities to learn how to make things, how to provide the village with _more._ Now if you wondered about 11 and older kids, well they were actually considered to be adults and could choose for themselves and rarely did they make the jump to Shinobi-hood.

I was about two years old when my parents died and left me to be raised in an orphanage as I had no living relatives. They had died on a mission and that's all I really knew. I never bothered to ask for more information, it never interested me. However, there were days when I really wish I _knew_. Those days were few and far between as I didn't even really _know_ them. I had been too young, with the mind of a child battling the mind of a sixteen year old.

Moving on, it's safe to say that my life was chosen for me the moment I took that god-forsaken IQ test and scored high enough to surprise them all. They hadn't expected a child, an orphan no less, to have an IQ of 146. It struck me as odd too, as in my past life, my IQ had been lower, an average one, if not a little higher. Yet they saw that test and I was placed to start learning at the Academy when I turned four.

I was _four_. Freaking _four_ and they had me start learning how to throw kunai correctly and other dangerous stuff. I guess it was my past life's thinking, but all I knew was that I didn't think this was cool. But I had no right to complain.

Orphaned children chosen to be shinobi were supported financially until they turned Genin. Anything I needed, not _wanted_, mind you, was delivered the day of my request and I was given an allowance, depending on how good my grades were. Basically meaning that in my time of being in the Academy, I was given the average amount. Again, Nonchalant Average Joe.

The only time my grades shown high with praise worthy results was when we were learning basic kid stuff, like learning to write and read and do math. Child's play. And I am not a kid, well, at least _mentally_ I'm not.

When it came to learning other stuff, like taijutsu, I was the norm.

Personally I think it's because I had no friends to help me become better. Let me rephrase that, _at first_ I had no friends to help me. It turns out that even if you had average scores with the psychical side of things, if your other marks were high enough, you could be tested out of that years class. That didn't mean you were a prodigy. It just meant you needed more stimulating practice. Rarely did any of the class leave to go up a grade to advance their shinobi career. They usually had friends though.

I tested out of the class and instead proved that I could, _mentally_, be on par with seven year olds. And I entered the class with them, my idols who, quite frankly, were lacking in ways I hadn't imagined. Like Ino, she was strong and one of the best students but she lacked an honesty to her words, as if she were always playing coy. But I think that happened around Sakura mostly. Or even Choji, who in the show had been someone who hated being called fat, let people call him that daily, taunting and teasing him to the point that he would cry. I suppose that change in his persona would come later.

They were beyond me in skill, at least in taijutsu and definitely in chakra control. Now about chakra, unlike what some had believed in my past life, it's a complete thing in the body, even if the body was a baby. As we grow older, however, it only expands and becomes _more_, increasing your chakra supply. Meaning that I could still learn chakra control, even with my young age (I was 5 at this time) and I could practice learning genjutsu and mediocre ninjutsu alongside the others.

It was around this time that I was told that my chakra supply was beyond normal, more like that of a 10 year old, than that of a child. Was I happy about this? Hell yes. Finally, my first Mary-Sue trait, one that I could hopefully exploit to make my life easier.

Sadly, it didn't quite work out that way.

And it was for one specific reason: I _sucked, sucked, __**sucked **_at chakra control.

But before I complain about that, let me explain to you how chakra control works, or rather, how to learn how to do it.

First step, you must establish a connection with it, find where you can most easily access it. _Check. Oh wow, look at all that chakra, so cool. Not._ Second step, play with it, manage to use it in some sort of way. _Un-checked. It seems that I can only look (or rather, _feel_) and not touch._ Third step, initiate the connection of using chakra with hand signals. _Again, un-checked._ Fourth step, enjoy learning new ninjutsu! _Haha, thanks, I totally will. That is, if I could even manage the second step! _

But I got it eventually, after a half a year of struggling. I had been the only one so slow. But I after all I had to have _some_ chakra control to graduate.

Now, this isn't a genetic thing, or at least, I don't _think_ it is. Once more, I don't know very much about my parents. However, I believe this was just myself being a rather inept shinobi. I mean, I was never _meant_ to be one. But only one person had a similar problem to me. Naruto Uzumaki.

There I said it.

The name of the show, the name of the nine-tails jinchūriki the name of the most epic person in the world, and the name of a ramen topping.

Did I flip shit when I realized I could touch him (no really, I could _touch_ him)? Yes.

Yes I did.

What was the outcome of it, you may ask? Well, good sir, it was a match made in heaven, honestly. Friendship, that is. As a shipping-queen (not drama-queen, mind you), I strongly felt Hinata and him would make perfect babies and thus I had to make sure this ship was canon. So we only ever connected as friends, pure and simple.

Moving on, I think the moment I tackled him with a flying hug, and yes, there were tears, was the moment Naruto became aware of my presence. And soon after that, keeping close to him while I ignored all others, I was deemed an idiot. A fangirl idiot.

Heh, well as long as it made him happy, I was cool with the nickname.

And it did, I noticed. I noticed how his eyes would twinkle every time I did something that could be considered "obsessive". We grew closer as time went on and those fangirl antics were reduced to that of a best friend. I couldn't _stalk_ a friend, meaning I didn't stay with him 24/7. But it was a moot point after a while. We had tried to be normal kids with their friendship and from what we observed was that, they didn't _constantly_ surround themselves with friends and most just hung out after school. That worked for us at first and we would go daily to Ichiraku's, but then he started crashing at my place and I at his. After that started happening, we kind of just began this cohabitation thing. It was nice. I finally got that sibling feeling that I had wanted and he got unconditional love and support.

So now you might ask yourself, is she going to be a good little fangirl/loving friend and help him? To protect him from the worst of the cannon plot twists?

Hell no.

Naruto would not be Naruto if he hadn't gone through what he did and I, more than anything, want to see the end Masashi Kishimoto desired. I wanted to see, with my own eyes, the story unfold.

But if there's one thing I've learned in this life of mine, is that it's unfair. Largely, upsettingly unfair. So when life gives you lemons, duck before that bitch could throw them at you. Sadly, I was in no position to duck, or rather, do anything about it.

One cannot duck when the adults of the world tell you what to do. One cannot duck when the _Academy_ tells you what to do. Or better yet, the _Hokage_.

And what was I told? Well, I can recall those words exactly:

"Rikeya Miyamura, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki on Team 7."

I'm going to be honest, I threw a fit, surprising everyone. I should be happy, right? Haha, fat chance. I didn't _want_ this. I needed to save the canon plotline but I couldn't do anything to get out of this, save take my own life. But I would never go there. I'm assuming my classmates thought I was angry over Sasuke's presence, the only possible cause as I couldn't be unhappy with Naruto, but really, every time I looked at Sakura Haruno, my heart broke. I felt as if I kicked a puppy, destroying their dreams and changing everything about the dog's future. Who was going to become Tsunade's apprentice? Who would kick Sasori's ass when the time came? Who would become an awesome sauce medic-nin and _heal_ people?

So to calm myself from crying in front of everyone, I vowed to myself that I would help her, as I'd never done for anyone in this life. It had been a policy of mine from the get-go. My policy was the simple rule of not changing anything of the storyline, so that meant not interacting with the other kids. Hell, even when Naruto, my clear exception to the rule, asked for my homework, I denied him that small mercy. Because he needed to grow on his own.

And I had just taken Sakura's chance to do so.

So here I am today, having just passed the Bell Test with Kakashi and glaring at Sasuke who in turn glared at me.

"You will never be Hokage," I declared, thinking of the chapter I had last been on, before my death.

He gave me confused look, well not really, he was glaring still but he had tilted his head to the side slightly, as if asking why I would ever think to say that to him.

"But you may very well be the Hokage's right hand man," I muttered and held out my hand, "Nice to meet you, Sasu-chan!" I said it cheerily enough but the two stared at me as if I had snot on my cheek. My hand was stood up.

"Sasu-chan?" Naruto asked, taken aback by it, "Are you one of _them_... Rike-chan?"

"One of what?" I asked, tilting my head as I looked at him with innocent eyes.

"His... fangirl."

I blinked and for a quick moment I studied Sasuke. In my past life, I had absolutely adored his character and the only time I ever disliked him was when he was being _seriously_ mean to Naruto. So yes, I had been quite the fangirl but I only ever owned five shirts of his, 7 key chains, 4 toy plushies, and one body pillow. It could not be compared to my love of Naruto himself. The amount of merchandise I had of _him_ well, don't even get me started.

So I shook my head, "Right now, he glares too much, and honestly that reminds me too much of myself for that to be comfortable. But do I like him, of course. No matter how difficult it will get, I will remain loyal. But only because we're teammates!"

I had added the last part mostly to normalize myself. Here I was, having feelings that I normally shouldn't have. I mean, this was relatively the first conversation I would have with him and he wasn't even speaking! So I guess I shouldn't even like him but it was something I was known for. As I wasn't very discreet with my emotions, I was kind of known for liking everyone right off the bat.

I glanced back to Naruto to see him frown but I smiled at him, "Let's go eat some ramen Naruto!" He cheered and he began to walk in the direction of Ichiraku's before I called back to the Uchiha, "Sasuke, we'll see you tomorrow for training!" I sent a beaming grin at him, hoping he would at least show me that adorable smirk of his. No such luck. He continued glaring.

I faltered, "Or is it that you want to join us?"

To that he quickly left, much to my dismay.

Whatever, I guess. I'd see his lovely face tomorrow. And if you dare judge me on that, I have to say, you do not know perfection when you see it. Especially when that perfection looks highly familiar to Kuroshitsuji's Sebastian Michealis.

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.3.

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I couldn't stop watching Kakashi.

In fact, I figure that by the time an hour of training had passed, he had deemed me as the least likely to survive in the world. Not that I blame him, I had to agree actually. My staring was unnerving him however, and when he made moves to come near me, I gawked at how fluid his motions were.

"Rikeya-san," He began, his eye looking to be confused, perhaps a bit disappointed.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," I breathed. Oh my _gosh_ he was so close. The sun reflected off his hair and it was beautiful.

"Is there a reason for you-."

"I was studying you," I murmured, hiding my scarlet flush, "Because you used to be ANBU, and I want to be ANBU." What, no I didn't. I didn't want to be anywhere _near_ ANBU. _Danzo_ was there. But Kakashi nodded, accepting this. I might have paled but in all honesty I was much too focused on him to care much.

"I didn't know that's what you wanted. When you introduced yourself you didn't say anything about your goals."

I nodded, "Er, I'm not very vocal about... " Trailing off, I looked away.

"No matter, so what are your strong points? Your marks in class were quite high, a strategist's mind."

"I'm kind of average, I guess. On second thought, I don't want to be ANBU," I prayed this would free me of having a tougher training schedule if he truly _believed_ I aimed for such improvement.

No such luck.

"It's fine to be an average genin, as long as you train to improve, you have a chance."

"Heheh, okay, cool. Um, well, I'm also pretty bad at chakra control..." I winced, my age old enemy rearing it's head at me as I used it to attempt another try at getting out of ANBU training.

"No matter, we have plenty of time to work on that," Kakashi nodded to me reassuringly, "Don't put yourself down so quickly, Rikeya-san."

I blinked, inwardly cursing at myself but outwardly I shone with a bright smile, "Thank you so much Kakashi-sensei!" And I meant it. I mean, a pep-talk from one of my favorite people? Now, that was something big for me.

I guess ANBU training ain't so bad.

"Rike-chan!" Naruto called to me, just as I walked awkwardly away from Kakashi on the premise that I was going to work on my chakra control.

"Naru-chan!" I cheered merrily and sped walked up to him. He stood next to the post he had been tied to just yesterday. The stump had a horribly drawn target on it and kunai lodged inside.

"Help me with aiming, please," he begged, pouting as he pointed to stump, "I'm not as good as you in weaponry."

I paused, debating with myself over what to do. It wouldn't hurt the plotline to get him more accurate with throwing, could it? I was taking Sakura's place so ultimately I should do what she'd do and more than likely she'd help him, if only to strengthen the team.

So I nodded, sighing as I dug out the kunai quickly and walked to stand next to him. I was actually one of the best in class when it came to aiming. I could complain all I wanted at how wrong it was to teach a four year old how to throw kunai but in all actuality, I excelled at it due to my close attention to detail. So I guess that was my Mary-Sue trait. Not anything epic, but still.

"Look at it as if it's an enemy," I murmured, "Imagine someone you hate or despise and think that they're about to hurt someone you love, someone you hold dear and would protect with your life."

"Woah, that's deep, Rike-chan," Naruto said and I studied him closely, wondering if this was a bad thing. His blue eyes shined bright with curiosity as he asked, "Who are you protecting?"

I thought about it and then grinned at the blonde, "You, of course! You're the only one I hold dear, Naru-chan."

This made Naruto flush with appreciation before he opened his mouth and declared, "Then I'll think of Teme as the bad guy and you as the one I'm going to protect!"

"As if!" I beamed before cockily saying, "Not if I wipe with the floor with him myself!"

"It'll be me first!"

"You wish!"

"Fine, first one to beat Sasuke gets to treat the other to ramen!" Naruto suggested, practically forcing me to grin.

"You're on! Hey, Sasu-chan! You hear that! Naru-chan and I are so going to mess you up!" I yelled out to the obviously annoyed Uchiha. He looked at us for a moment before turning away from us, like we were dirt. It hurt, I suppose. No, I mean it really hurt. It was like a kick the chest, but I couldn't cry because I was abruptly charged with a heated passion to kick him back.

This obviously didn't sit well with me. Furious at him for being so rude, I strode toward him, knocking my hip against his none too gently. Sasuke openly glared at me and opened his mouth but I quickly shoved my palm to shush him.

"You do not get to do that!" I raged, forgetting my place, "You don't get to treat us like we're beneath you just because you're a clan kid! Just 'cause you have family issues doesn't make you special, idiot! And if you think you can ignore us and not even act with us as a team for the rest of your life, well you got another thing coming, idiot Sasu-chan!"

With that, I took my palm away and walked back to Naruto, much calmer than I was before.

"Now, Naruto, I think the reason your aiming is off is because..." I continued directing Naruto but I didn't look back to see his reaction. He probably hated me now more than ever. And as sad as that would make me, I wouldn't apologize to him first.

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.3.

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I was walking home when by chance I saw Sakura. Immediately, my heart broke in pieces as I thought about all the good and bad memories she would never get the chance to make. It wasn't exactly my fault but I still felt awful for somehow taking her place. And so when I saw that her eyes were slightly puffy and her nose shone red, I stopped and asked her what was wrong though I already knew. But she stayed quiet, wallowing in self-pity so instead of bugging her over it, I hugged her and didn't let go until she whispered:

"I failed."

To which I vehemently shook my head and brashly spoke aloud my thoughts, "You were not intended to fail, Sakura-san! You are an excellent shinobi, or better yet, you _will_ be."

"Thanks, Rikeya-san," she sniffed, "It's just hard, you know? I worked my butt off and this is my reward. To think that I even had better grades than _you_, miss genius."

I patted her hair, her lovely pink hair and murmured, "You also have better chakra control than me."

"Everyone has better chakra control than you," she informed me, humor coming back into her intelligent green eyes.

I nodded my agreement before whispering, "Between you and I, I think you'll be strong enough to be a legendary sannin when you're older."

"You're just saying that," she muttered darkly.

I laughed, "No, I believe it! I'll even help you, Sakura-ch-san."

She studied me cautiously and hesitatingly nodded, "Chan is fine, if I ge-."

"Rike-chan," I affirmed, "I hate my full name, it's so awkward."

"Really? I think it's pretty, like your hair. How did you grow it so long?" she asked me, clutching at her own locks self-consciously. No doubt that she was thinking of Sasuke.

"I've never cut it," I answer honestly, "I'm too afraid to."

I liked my hair, a lot. It's my best attribute, as it sets me off from others. It was a dark blue color, almost turquoise. It was long due to never having cut it, and hung around to the back of my knees if I didn't have it tied up. And I'm rather tall for my age. I'm three years younger than her and yet I tower over her by two inches. But it had always been that way for me, even in my past life. I was 6'2" by the time I was 15.

"Huh, maybe I should try that, but I'd be worried about split ends," she conversed and soon we fell into an easy conversation that almost made me feel _normal_ for the first in years.

I used to not like pre-Shippuden Sakura but I guess she was okay.

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.3.

* * *

At home, I found myself training instead of reading, which was another first. In my rebellion to the life I was chosen to lead, I had never taken anything too seriously, which now that I thought about it, was _why_ I sucked so hard at everything. Well, except for control, I was naturally bad at that.

Mary-Sue's were usually created because of a writer, a writer who didn't understand pacing a character's development and just making it up, centering it too much on the OC than the actual story. They were made too powerful too quickly. And I suppose I don't envy them that. After all, succeeding at something you did completely by yourself would be well worth the wait.

But here I am, being the epitome of a bad shinobi and it wasn't because of some author who decided to make me suck to stay away from Mary-Sue-dom, it had been because of me and _my_ own choices.

Now I truly understood the quote "I am the author of my own story."

I guess I'll have to try harder to catch up with the others and do my best to keep to the canon storyline the way the manga had gone. Hopefully life would then give me a break.

But I kind of doubted that.

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**E/N**: Please **review** to let me know if this story is worth writing!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N****: **Okay, so at the end of this short chapter, you'll find two OMAKE! Lol, had to put that in caps. Anyway, I'll writing OMAKE's for each chapter from now on, as I sped through everything very quickly to get to major plot moments. So when you review, ask what kind of scene you want to see!

**Disclaimer****: **I own nothing except for my dear Rikeya-sama. God damn I love her, bucket of joy that she is.

**Beta**: Looking, anyone interested?

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Memoirs of a Fangirl

by Miyuusen

2

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(￣ヮ￣)

* * *

Eyeing Naruto, I was suddenly hit with the strange temptation to hug him or cry. Tears of joy, that is. My student had finally proved himself to his teacher and he stood grinning while he looked at the target. All of his kunai were pierced deep into the marks I had carved in for him to aim at.

"Good job, Naru-chan!" I cheered and lifted up my hand to give him a high five. The moment our hands clapped together, however, I glomped him, attacking him to the ground, "I'm so _proud_!"

He laughed and attempted to shove me off of him, I clung like glue, "Thanks, Rike-chan, but can you get off?"

Hesitating, I nodded before climbing off of him, standing while holding out my hand. He took it, his blue eyes glowing as he looked to his accomplishment, "You're going to be such a good Hokage!" I couldn't help but say in my joy.

He scratched the back of his head, a blush coming to his face as he took in the compliment, "Thanks! But you'll be my awesome right hand woman, won't you?"

I froze. I had never thought about it before. It was an attractive offer but I wasn't ever going to be good enough to do that for him. He was better off with Sasuke anyway. So I shook my head, "Nah, I'll be a-."

"Member of ANBU," Kakashi murmured, popping up out of nowhere, he looked to Naruto, "Good job with the accuracy," Then to me, "Rikeya-san, if you're done here would you care to join me for some training exercises."

I paled, but nodded. One does not say no to Kakashi. But this wasn't the first time I was relatively sentenced to death in this life and most likely it will not be the last.

I followed after like a kicked puppy in fear of another blow but was surprised to find that we weren't going to the usual place for my ANBU training. Instead, he brought me to a distant training ground which is where my heart nearly stopped.

At first I just saw the green jumpsuit, then it was the eyes, and finally, the deciding factor of my heart attack, was the eyebrows.

Inwardly I was jumping at him and never letting go but outwardly, the moment Rock Lee and Maito Gai stepped forward for introductions, I stayed with a pleasant smile and let no one know of my inner squealing.

"And this is Miyamura Rikeya, my own genin. I thought Lee and her might get along quite well as neither of them can use chakra."

Lee blinked in front of me as I studied him, then he grinned at me, "This is most wonderful news! I hope we get along well together, Rikeya-san."

I nodded, "I've heard about you! I've wanted to meet you for so long, Lee-kun."

"Anyway, I have to be getting back to my other students, take care of her for me," Kakashi said, patting my hair as he passed me by.

"Well then, Rikeya-san!" Gai began as he grinned at me with joy, "Let's have a good time with the power of youth and train ourselves to the max!"

Lee nodded vigorously while I mourned my death. That's when Lee asked, "So how heavy are your weights?"

"We-weights?" I blanched when I realized where he was going with this, "I don't use weights."

"What? Then how do you work on your speed?"

Shaking my head, I nervously hopped on my feet, "Listen, at the moment I'm kind of average with everything so... uh..."

"Oh, I see, Kakashi isn't doing his best a teacher," Gai said, "I'd say the win goes to me this time around!" He grinned. "Never fear, Rikeya-san! We will get those bad habits out of your system. But first, here are some extra weights for you to use in the mean time!" He grinned as he took them out of a bag he had been carrying on his back.

The moment I had the weights in hand, I was a goner. Straining to carry them, my eyes bulged, "Uhhhh, need... help!" I groaned out. Thinking it was just getting them on my legs, Lee took them from me with ease and did just that.

I was now impaired of walking now.

"Okay, first on the agenda of 'To Re-Train Rikeya-san List', 20 laps around Konoha!"

Oh, shit.

* * *

(￣ヮ￣)

* * *

_Every single god damn day_, I thought to myself sluggishly moving through the grocery store on my way home after my fifth training session with Gai and Lee. Now I knew why Lee was so fast on his feet, after all of the work he put into himself, it was crazy to think that he could manage his kind of stunts with his circumstances. I could complain all I wanted about the things I had to do but really, even if the training sessions were largely tasking, they were still very rewarding. I could already feel my body getting tougher and stronger (albeit _exhausted_) and with the weights, that I wasn't _ever_ allowed to take off, it was getting easier to walk around with them.

I could almost feel the sense of release of the moment I could finally switch out my weights but of course it wouldn't last long before I had to place the next set of weights on.

"Rike-chan?" a light female's voice called out and I tiredly turned to see a beaming Sakura run up to me, "I did what you told me to do! I got into the medic classes and they said I was a promising student thanks to my chakra control, thank you so much for the suggestion!" She gushed and I offered a sleepy smile.

"I'm so glad," I told her honestly, "In a year, I'll introduce you to someone who might be able to train you better though, but it's good to know the basics."

"Okay, thanks," a cheeky grin, then a worried glance, "You look tired, Rike-chan, are you sure you're eating okay? Sleeping fine?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I've just got this really tiring training regime. Me and my stupid mouth got us into it."

"Naruto mentioned something like that to me actually. Your training for ANBU, aren't you?" She asked, her eyes curious. God, did everyone know about that silly thing? I guess it wasn't silly though, as it was very, very, _very_ serious. It's like a heart attack, the things I have to do.

But I nodded anyway, too exhausted to care at the moment, "Gotta shape up for the future, ya know?"

She nodded before saying with a smile, "You can do it! I have faith in you! I'll even give a hand with chakra control, if you want."

Aww, that was so sweet. Giving her a sleepy nod, I told her, "Thank you, Saku-chan... now, I should get home to cook something up before passing out for the night."

To which she offered, "Why don't you eat with my family and I? Oh, you can even sleep over if you want!" She looked to be getting excited and for a brief moment I considered denying her that. But that moment left and I nodded with a grin.

"I'd like that a lot. Hey, maybe while I'm there you can practice on me your medic ninjutsu?"

She gaped, "You'd let me?" Somehow, from the glint in her eyes, I think that's what she was after all along but no matter, I just made a new friend, I think.

* * *

(;° ロ°)

* * *

Several more weeks passed, all of them spent by training with Gai and Lee and doing D-rank missions with Team 7. My relations with the former mentioned had improved drastically as I had even been asked to come to their usual training with Neji and TenTen. However, with the later it was kind of hard to say. I still liked Sasuke but at the same time I didn't. He hated me. I could see in his eyes that he would rather have a fangirl of his than me.

And that hurt , if I were being completely honest, but I had Naruto to go to. So I did.

Walking to Naruto's apartment from mine is a pretty short walk. We lived on the "shady" part of the village and really, I thought it was fine. The area was fairly nice, if just a little run down, and the people were polite to me, just as I was to them. The only thing I hated and I mean _hate_, is how people treat Naruto. While the people would be nice to myself, they would treat Naruto like he was no better than the filth underneath their feet.

So now-a-days, I pretty much ignore everyone.

"Naruto!" I called cheerfully at door, "Guess what!? I brought food, open up!" No matter how close I had been to anyone, past or present life, never before have I been comfortable enough to barge into on them. I always knocked before I entered a room, and I always made certain that I come to Naruto's house this early on weekdays, or mission days.

After a few minutes of my shouting, a sleepy Naruto opened the door with nothing but his boxers on. I blushed a bright scarlet color, as I always had done when faced with seeing more flesh than usual. He yawned, and scratched at his finely toned stomach.

"You say you got food Rike-chan?"

I nodded and waited for him to step aside to let me in. When he did, I took in his home as I always did. It was surreal, being in the home, or place that you've only seen on television and in manga. Dreamily sighing, I turned to Naruto with a grin.

"I'm making it for you, so I'm using your stove," Then I frowned, still blushing, "and go get some clothes on."

"Yes, mom!" he called as he headed to the bathroom.

"I love you, honey!"

After that, I quickly got to work on preparing for him an tomato omelette with a side of hashbrowns. It was simple, but that boy needed to eat stuff other than ramen. I fully intended, as the mother I am, to provide that for him. When I was done cooking and he was fully clothed, breath smelling minty and his hair wet from a quick shower, I set his food onto his tiny table. He groaned at the food choice but I swear I saw a happy glint in his eyes.

I left him to chow down, and sat down, with a book, on a recliner I got him for his birthday last year. It was one thing I knew he was like and something we could share, so I was terribly glad that the Naruto-verse still had furniture like this. It made reading books more comfortable and I needed all the comfort it could give with this one.

I was reading up on what was available information on the ANBU, assuming that I would be forced to aim for that anyway. It was amazing how much you could learn about an organization that was so secretive. First off, something which was common knowledge, there were ANBU captains which were proven to be the top the top, people who were deemed worthy and responsible with the lives of their squad and would be able to protect the mission at all costs. Then there were the lower ranks, such as-

"Rike-chan?" Naruto called, interrupting my reading. Glancing up, I took in his grinning expression.

"So today we get a C-rank! I'm sure of it!" Naruto said excitedly and I looked at him with large eyes.

"What?" No way, I was not prepared for the Wave. It would literally knock me down and kill me, "Can't continue the D-ranks...?"

"Heh, Rike-chan! Are you scared? Don't worry, as the future Hokage, I'll protect you."

Ugh, my heart was hurting again but I was temporarily distracted with how cutely he had said that. God damn it.

* * *

(;° ロ°)

* * *

"Lets go!" Naruto shouted, giddy with excitement. I grinned at his antics, my worry over this mission set aside as I felt the cool air of wind caress my face as we left the Konoha gates behind us. The sun felt nice too and I only just realized now that today was a good day, even as it threatened to be a dangerous one.

"What are you so excited for?" I asked, groaning, even as I felt more relaxed than I had anticipated.

"Causes this is the first time I'm leaving the village!" Naruto grinned at me and I clutched at his hand, blinded by his adorableness.

"Duh, I know _that_. It's mine too," I mused.

"Hey! Am I really stuck with these brat?" Tazuna asked Kakashi, seemingly annoyed. I turned to him, ready to growl as I stuck him with a glare.

"Haha... well I'm a jounin so don't worry."

Naruto looked pissed off from this exchanged and he boldly pointed a finger at the bridge builder, "Hey old man! Don't mess with ninjas! I'm incredible! One day I'll take on the super elite ninja title Hokage! My name is Naruto Uzumaki! Remember it!"

"Hokage is the title of the #1 ninja, right?" Tazuna looked at Naruto pointedly and with a gruff voice said, "I doubt someone like you could make it."

"Naruto," Kakashi murmured but the blonde had had enough of this drunkard.

"Shut _up_! I'm prepared to do anything to become Hokage and once I become Hokage you'll acknowledge me!"

Tazuna gave him a bored stare, "No I won't brat. Even if you become Hokage."

Naruto looked darn right frustrated, "Urghhh, I'll kill you!"

Kakashi sighed, "I said stop, moron."

* * *

(;° ロ°)

OMAKE - The Meeting

(In Which She Meets The Great Pranker)

* * *

Sighing, I trudged my way up the long bring stretch of dirt that led to the Academy. I didn't want this, I didn't want to be disappointed when I found that this was yet again another class that held no one I knew from my past life. Hell, I didn't even know what time-line I was in and the only grounding fact that I was, indeed, in Konoha was the mountain in which the Hokage's faces were engraved on. Also there was Ichiraku ramen, a place I didn't go often in fear that I would get fat. Ugh, I know. But old habits die hard, I suppose.

Anyway, I soon stood before the sliding door to my new classroom, having walked the whole way in silence and a brooding manner. Without hesitation, I slid open the door and was pleasantly surprised to see that my teacher was Iruka. I had met him before, as it was impossible to miss him when you walked in the same halls he did on a daily basis.

"Oh welcome, Rikeya-san!" Iruka had said and I smiled shortly, it quickly dissolving into a frown as I went to stand at the front of the class. He missed it and turned back to his students, grinning. "Class, this is Rikeya Miyamura, she'll be joining us from now on as a fellow classmate. Do you want to say anything?"

"Hi," I muttered, looking over everyone darkly. That's when I saw, a bright yellow tuft of hair poking up from a desk. A second later, a groan sounded as a boy with bright blue eyes hit his head on the desk, his fingers holding tightly onto a rather used eraser. I froze.

Then as his eyes met mine, his glancing shyly downward, I took a step forward. My whole being narrowed in on his and I heard nothing, felt only air and cared for only him. Unable to control myself, I felt myself scream with joy as I jumped forward, racing to where he sat as I threw my arms around him.

"What!?" He yelped and I clung to him. I wanted to cry. This was a powerful moment, one that would affect me forever. He was similar to me in a way that we were both orphans (in this life) and kind of ignored. I had no friends, he had no friends. Gosh, I could feel his loneliness seeping out of his pores. As I thought more on his past, I found myself sobbing, petting his hair and whispering nonsense.

It was then that I felt myself being pulled away from my dear precious Naruto and I found myself suspended in the air by my collar. Iruka stared at me with confusion.

"What are you doing, Rikeya-san?" he said after a moment and I shook my head, too overwhelmed to speak. Oh gosh, the feels. I cried some more. And in the end I had to leave the classroom to contain myself.

* * *

(;° ロ°)

OMAKE - The Introduction

(In Which She Announces Her Fangirl Ways)

* * *

"Okay, let's begin with some questions," Kakashi suggested and I stayed quiet, sitting peacefully next to him as I stared at him adoringly. Christ, he was beautiful.

"What do you want to know?" Sasuke asked, his voice devoid of emotion. I turned to him, suddenly hit with the fact that he too was very beautiful. _This is heaven_, I decided.

"How about... your likes and dislikes, dreams for the future, hobbies, stuff like that."

"Why don't you introduce yourself first," Naruto told him scowling at him untrustingly.

"Yeah, you look suspicious," I agreed with the blonde. I'd already known he'd do this that didn't stop the need for something juicier. Like if he enjoyed sex with Iruka-sensei. Haha, as if. Crack pairings would never happen unless I did something to change it. Besides, I had a feeling Kakashi was asexual and I would never force a sexy man onto him.

"Ooh, me?" Kakashi said lazily, "My name is Kakashi Hatake. I have no desire to tell you guys about my dislikes and likes. Dreams for the future...? Hmm, well, I have a lot of hobbies"

"So," I said, turning toward the boys, "all we learned was his name.."

"Now it's your turn, from the right." Kakashi announced, ignoring my words.

"Me, me! My name is Naruto Uzumaki. I like cup noodles but what I like even more is the restaurant ramen Iruka buys me from Ichiraku. Oh and I like Rikeya-chan. What I dislike is waiting 3 minutes for the cup ramen to cook and nagging," Pointed look in my direction "And my dream...is to surpass the Hokage and then have all the people of this village acknowledge my existence. Hobbies... uh, pranks I guess."

"Next."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha. There are tons of things I dislike but I don't really like anything. And... I don't want to use the word dream but I have a certain... ambition. The resurrection of my clan... and... to kill a certain man."

Well, that was certainly angsty. I blinked. But it was expected, I suppose. He's Sasuke Uchiha, angst-incarnate.

"Next."

"Ah... I'm Rikeya Miyamura! I like... books. Naruto. Cooking, and nagging," I gave my blonde a look of my own, "I hate... not really anything. Oh wait, no I hate chakra control," I felt my gaze darken and despise fill me, "It can go die in a whole, alone and calling for help as it bleeds out, blood spilling out from the wounds I've inflicted... Haha! Anyway, my hobbies are my likes and I don't really aspire to be anything!"

Perfect.

* * *

**E/N:** So if you've noticed her calling everyone "Sasu-chan, Naru-chan, Saku-chan" well I'd like you to understand that this is a character trait that was something I planned for her. As she already feels very well acquainted, she doesn't really notice that she's being rude when she jumps the gun by giving them nicknames and the like. The only one's she'll hesitate on are the ones who she doesn't know quite as well, such as the secondary characters. Just wanted to clear that up if anyone didn't get that! OvO


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N****:** Fast update because y'all are all so kind. ;A; Thank you for all the followers, favorites, and reviews! It means so much to me. Extra long chapter because of it. Heh, and if any of you read my other SI fic, before I went through drastically changing it, you'll recognize the writing as I just took it and edited to fit this story. Applaud my lazy, it's rather handy at times like this.

**Disclaimer****: **I own nothing except for my dear Rikeya-sama. I adore her, the Shipper Queen.

**Beta**: Looking, anyone interested? I need one, to save this story from dying in a pit of coal.

* * *

Memoirs of a Fangirl

by Miyuusen

3

(￣ヮ￣)

* * *

"Umm, Tazuna-san?" I started, deciding that I didn't really _like_ this silence. It made me nervous. I hate being nervous.

"What?"

"You're from the wave country, right?" No, duh. Mentally, I was slapping myself.

"What about it?"

A moment of silence.

"Umm, Kakashi-sensei? Do they have ninjas in that country too?"

He gave a lazy stare, as I skipped along side of him. Yeah, okay, I like to skip around hot guys. Don't judge me. Besides, I was feeling crappy enough as it was. I needed Kakashi's presence. And I _was_ a bit curious.

The silver haired nin answered my question, "No, not in the wave country. But... in most other countries... the culture and customs may be different but hidden villages exist. And so do ninjas. In fact, the shinobi's of these villages are ruled by other Kages, who are the strongest, Hokage-sama being one of them. The Kages are strong leaders who are the best at ninjas combat. "

"So the Hokage is stronger than everyone? He's that cool?" I exclaimed, saying what I knew was expected of me.

"You guys just doubted Hokage-sama, didn't you?"

I held no reaction but the other two twitched guiltily.

"But don't worry, " Kakashi said, continuing, "There won't be any ninja combat in a C-rank mission."

"Then we won't come into contact with any foreign ninjas?"

Kakashi gave a gleeful laugh, as if loving the reaction his answering words gave, "Of course _not_! Hahaha," he patted the crest fallen Naruto on the back.

That a was a laughable notion, however, I already knew this mission was a fake C-rank. I knew but I watched Tazuna's sullen expression closely, as well as studying my surroundings for the telling sign of the A-rank. To live, I needed to be prepared. I noticed Kakashi and Sasuke doing the same. _Good._

That's when I spotted a puddle, also seeing Kakashi's eye falling on it. I met his eye, motioning my head ever so slightly to the puddle. He shook his head. The message was clear. _Do nothing,_ _wait it out_. I again motioned my head in understanding. The glint in his eye showed that he was proud. I restrained myself from beaming.

That's about when the chains came out. Clumsily, I dodged them as they tried to wrap around me, narrowly missing getting myself killed. But they didn't seem to care as they reached Kakashi and executed the attack they had just tried on me.

My eyes widened as I saw Kakashi be killed, being torn, blood spraying everywhere, hitting my face, right before my eyes. I felt an uncontrollable scream rip through my throat. I knew this wasn't _real_ but you try seeing one of your favorite characters die in front of you. It was real enough, _vivid_ enough to send my stomach heaving and my eyes brining. I wanted to cry, the tears were ready to spill any second, but instead I focused on the situation at hand.

_This is just a genjutsu and this blood isn't real. _

Snapping out of it, I saw Sasuke do the same. He launched himself immediately into the fight and I took Sakura's role, as I jumped back, kunai in hand, to protect Tazuna. Naruto... was frozen in fear. After that, the fight was a blur as I watched Sasuke fight. Naruto even joined the fray, his fear oh-so evident on his paled face, Before I knew it, Kakashi had appeared again, my heart soaring, and tied up the mist shinobi.

But I didn't pay much attention to that. Without hesitating, I turned to Naruto, with bandages ready.

"I saw you get hurt," I said softly, my heart constricting at the expression on the blonde's face, "I'll help..."

Mutely, he nodded as Kakashi walked closer to the two of us.

"Naruto, I'm sorry for not saving you immediately, you got injured... didn't think you'd freeze up like that," Kakashi said cooly and turned to the rest of us, "Good job Sasuke. You too, Rikeya."

The Uchiha looked to Naruto, "You okay, Scaredy cat?"

The Uzumaki looked stricken and angry but before he could say a word Kakashi spoke up, "Save it for later, their claws are soaked in poison. We must open up the wound to release the poison. Don't move or it'll spread."

Naruto grimaced while looking pissed off. Sympathy arose within me, my heart hurting even more now. Naruto and I were kinda in the same boat. I really hadn't done much, I realized, sure I went to protect Tazuna and had noticed the stupid puddle but I'm pretty sure that was nothing in comparison to what Sasuke did.

I turned toward the smirking Uchiha. _Should I praise him? Would he get cocky? Does he still hate me? Maybe if I compliment him, he'll like me more. _God damn, I hate myself sometimes. Shrugging off the thoughts I went with my gut and said to the loner, "You were really good out there."

Sasuke looked conflicted at the compliment. I think he was confused about whether I meant it. And that wasn't very surprising. I haven't been the nicest to him as of late. Finally he just nodded at me once. After that, I turned to Kakashi, knowing our next move but waiting for the command. He turned to look at the Hidden Mist nin, whom I glared at fiercely. I could do that now, the guys were tied up, unable to get free anytime soon.

"How did you two see through our attacks?" They asked.

Kakashi answered with a lazy look toward them, "On a sunny day when it hasn't rained in days, there won't be puddles."

Tazuna spoke up at this, "If you knew, then why did you have the kids fight?"

"If I had wanted to, I could've killed these two instantly but there's something I needed to find out; Who were these two after."

Tazuna gave an innocent look, "What do you mean?"

Kakashi matched that look with one of his own, "Meaning... were they after you or one of us?" Tazuna frowned as Kakashi continued, "We didn't know shinobi were going to be after us. Our orders were to protect you from gangs and thieves. This mission has now become at least a B-rank. This was supposed to be a simple mission to protect you until you completed the bridge.

"If it were known that ninjas were after you, this mission would have been the more expensive B-rank. I'm sure you have your reasons but it causes problems with the mission if you lie. We are operating outside of our duties."

It was silent then. Stuck in our thoughts, I guess. I knew what I had to do. Play Sakura's annoying ass part so that we can end up continuing the mission. The silence continued right until I sighed and opened my big mouth, "We aren't ready for this mission. Lets quit. Besides we also need medicine for Naruto's wound. Lets head back to Konoha..." Could I sound any more monotone?

"Hmm," was all Kakashi cared to say. Then after another moment of tense silence, he said, "This might be too much. I guess we should return to treat Naruto's wound."

That's when _it_ flared. Impossibly dark and vast chakra _within_ Naruto's. Unsettled, I walked closer to Naruto, shocked by the sheer amount of _darkness_ this chakra held. I had been anticipating something of this nature but never this. It was terrifying but it was gone after a split second and a determined Naruto reached his hand into his pouch to pull out his kunai and stabbed himself. I had expected this but it didn't make it any less dramatic than when I watched the show.

"We're continuing this mission, I'll protect the old man." I could tell that this was serious for him and somehow knew that this was the time he made his vow. I felt a sense of pride for my friend. _We can improve together_, I thought. Then back-tracked, _As long as it sticks to canon._

Kakashi kneeled down to study his hand. A second passed and Naruto spoke, "Hey, am I... uh... going to be..."

"You'll be fine."

_The nine-tails chakra. _It would have been great if I were a Mary-Sue in a Jinchuriki's body. That would mean awesome healing. Naruto would be just dandy in a few seconds but that didn't matter. The nursing mother inside me wanted to be _certain_ it wouldn't get an infection. When Kakashi stepped away, I wrapped Naruto's hand.

After that I felt calmer. Everything had been pretty cannon up to this point. So that would mean I wouldn't die today. Just possibly, _almost _die. So I didn't feel any fear, whatsoever. At least not until we came into view of the bridge and Tazuna was speaking to Kakashi.

"Sensei," he had said, garnering my attention along with everyone else in the boat, "I want to talk to you. Its about the mission. You're right. Its most likely out of your duties and capabilities. But as it turns out, a super dangerous man is after my life."

"Super dangerous man? Who?"

"You've probably at least heard his name before. The wealthy shipping magnate... a man named Gatou."

Ah yes, the great and terrible (and _ugly_) Gatou. However, Kakashi looked surprised and I grimaced.

"Gatou? From that Gatou Company? He's said to be one if the worlds few wealthiest men alive."

"Yes... officially he runs a large shipping company but secretly he sells drugs and other illegal items using shinobi and gang members to take over... businesses and countries. He's a very nasty man." Tazuna paused, swallowing roughly before he continued on.

"It was about a year ago when he set his sights on the Wave country. Through money and violence he quickly took control of the countries shipping industry. Gatou now has monopoly on all business traffic in the country. The only thing he has to fear now is the completion of the bridge."

"I see," I murmured, recalling the words Sakura had used, "So since you're building the bridge, you're in the way."

"So the shinobi were hired by Gatou." Sasuke stated, grimacing Naruto just looked clueless.

"What I don't understand is why, " Kakashi began "if you knew ninjas were after you, why did you hide it?"

"The Wave country is super poor. Even the Feudal Lord has no money." A sheepish smile, "Of course we don't have enough money for a B-rank mission... if you quit the mission now... I'll be killed. But it's _alright. _My ten-year-old grandson will only cry for a few days. _And _my daughter would hate the leaf village shinobi. But that's not _your fault. _"

This old man was swindling us and oh god it was working. Initially, this was the mission I despised out of all of them, even more than the filler episodes. I had disliked it for the reason of Zabuza dying, as well as Haku. But still, I had adored his grandson, who was so much like Naruto, and his daughter had seemed okay. Ah, my heart strings.

"Well it seems we have no choice. We'll protect you until your home."

Tanuza looked ready to grin and I knew he was thinking something along the lines of 'I win.' Well, yeah you do, you smelly old fart.

We soon pulled up to a wooden structure and the person who guided us through the misty waters, left us after Tazuna thanked him. The old drunk turned to us.

"Alright, get me home safe."

"Yes yes," Kakashi nodded, his eye heavy with baggs. He was probably thinking of all the work we would soon be going through. Bleh, yeah.

That's when Naruto lashed out with a shuriken at the trees. We stared at him in silence. He pulled himself up and said, imitating a 'cool' person, "Heh, just a rat."

"Naruto, let's just calm down." I told him cautiously.

"And please don't go throwing around shuriken, that's dangerous," Kakashi ordered him.

Without listening to us, Naruto threw another one shouting, "There!"

"_Naruto_." I murmured, eyeing the trouble-maker. Faintly, this was also familiar but it's not like I was a walking wikipedia, knowing all that went down in this Arc. This probably happened but I don't know why. Ugh, where was the internet when you needed it.

"Ow! I _know_ but I swear someone is following is," Naruto insisted. I looked around, looking for whatever he saw. That was when Kakashi held up a petrified snow white rabbit.

Naruto's eyes widened as he grabbed the rabbit and began to squeeze it to death. O_h no, don't do that_, I distantly thought. Because oh crap, _he_ was about to make his entrance.

"I'm sorry!" Naruto apologized to the rabbit but I ignored him, hyper-aware of everything else.

"Kakashi-sensei," I spoke, deciding to get this over with, and all three of them looked to me. I pointed to the rabbit currently in Naruto's death squeeze, "its fur is white when it's not winter."

"You're right."

I felt the chakra signature, alarmingly enough, before I heard Kakashi's shouts for us to get down. A giant sword flew over our heads landing with a thick _thunk_ into the bark of a tree. I twisted around to see the man from my nightmares. Zabuza Momochi.

Before I could help it, I yelped out his name, gathering the attention of everyone. Hesitantly, I laughed, "I...studied up on this guy when I was researching ANBU." Great, it's _that_ excuse again.

Kakashi just nodded, accepting this and then turning to stare up at the shinobi with a relatively calm expression, "Yes, Rikeya-san, this is Kirigakure's missing nin Zabuza Momochi."

_Okay, at least _someone_ has a clear head. _I sure didn't. God, had Zabuza always been that sexy? Damn it, no. No, Rikeya, you will stay calm. No thinking of shipping Kakashi and Zabuza together. Nope. No. Don't. Ah, but before I could drown the ship before it set sail, the name came softly to my lips, "KaZa." Shit. Thankfully, it was too quiet to be heard.

"Everybody get back. This ones on a whole other level. Beating him might be a little tough... unless I do _this_," Kakashi lifted up his headband slowly.

"You seem to be Sharingan Kakashi-," Sasuke sucked in a breath, "Sorry, but the old man is mine," Zabuza's voice was husky and deep as he said the words. My knees went weak. Ugh, I hate myself.

At the mention of the kekkai genkai, everyone stiffened. Well, with the exception of Tazuna and I. Naruto looked confused while Sasuke held a mixture of both shock and confusion. And a splash of annoyance, I suppose.

"Surround and protect Tazuna," Kakashi commanded and without hesitation I jumped in front of the bridge builder. Hey, I had absolutely zero desire to help, as that was what Sakura had done. The others hesitated. "Don't enter the fight. That's the team work here. Zabuza fight me," and Kakashi's headband was completely up now, showing the Sharingan in all its glory.

"Ah, I'm honored. I get to see the great Sharingan so soon?"

"Sharingan? What the hell is that?" Naruto asked curiously and I jumped up, being the annoying one as this life chose for me to be.

"Allow me to explain," I murmured, deepening my voice so as to sound professional, "Sharingan... hmm, well it is said that some have the ability in their eyes to read and defeat all kinds of gen, tai, and ninjutsu. Sharingan is one of this type of pupil that gives the user this ability. "

"But that's not the only ability that Sharingan has," Sasuke interrupted, cutting me off. I scowled at him. He shot me a similar look. I even had the voice going! Boy is so rude.

"Hehe, exactly. That's not all," Zabuza started, taking the explanation from the both of us. Sasuke and I turned our glares his way. Nevertheless, he continued, "What's even scarier is that you can copy your opponents technique once you see them. When I was a member of the Hidden Mists assassin team... I kept a handbook. It included information on you and this is what it said: 'the man has copied over 1,000 Justus, Copy Ninja Kakashi.'"

I watched my two teammates reactions to this information. Sasuke looked at Kakashi suspiciously, and Naruto looked rather impressed. I probably looked half-bored and half-flushed.

"Now lets end all this talking," Zabuza said, interrupting my observations, "I have to kill that old man."

This time, the fangirl thoughts vanished as I suddenly had a purpose. I had to protect Tazuna. I looked Zabuza in the eye, my blue ones locking on his with a glare 5 times worse than my previous one, "Over my dead body," I ground out through clenched teeth. And I meant it. This was the start of me taking Shinobi-hood serious. Like the thug life, it chose me.

"Oh, a feisty kid you got here," He said before he went to attack Tazuna. I bared a kunai in front me, my stance firm. Before Zabuza could reach us, Kakashi appeared before us, making the man pause, he grinned, showing his full set of razor sharp teeth. "But... Kakashi. It seems I have to beat you first." Yes, that ship is still afloat.

Zabuza jumped off a tree and landed delicately in the water.

"Over there!" Naruto yelled out pointing and I joined with a, "He's on the water!"

Zabuza readied a nutshell, his fingers moving. That's when it hit me, the wave of chakra. I bent over, coughing and clutching my sides from the force of it. I had never been very sensitive to chakra, only when I tried but this... this was pure _agony_ that it gave me. _No_. I would _not _let myself get caught up this. Breathing in, I straightened

"Ninpou Hidden Mist no Jutsu," the missing nin murmured softly before disappearing suddenly. Due to my knowledge I wasn't particularly put off about it. But everyone else was. It reminded me, yet again, that if I only got off my high horse, I could _help_. I could _do _something. But even as I thought this, the action was on-going. And really, this needed to stay cannon.

"He'll come after me first," Kakashi announced as I focused in on him, "Momochi Zabuza, as a member of the Hidden Mist... he was known as an expert of silent killing. You watch out, its not as if I can use the Sharingan perfectly."

"Look, the fog is getting thicker," Naruto yelled out and I nodded. This was a fact, the space we were in did, indeed, have a lot more mist than the previous minute.

"8 choices," Zabuza's distant voice came out, "Liver, lung, spine, clavicle vein, neck vein, brain, kidney, heart... which should I go after first?"

By now, the killer intent was nearly crushing so I wasn't surprised to find that the Uchiha was shaking. What I _was_ surprised of was that _I _wasn't shaking. Well, then again, I've never been the _aware_ one when it came to the environment. But I needed to cheer the guy up, if only to get him to like me better. Ugh, I know. Don't judge me.

"Sasuke," I whispered, keeping the annoyance of myself out of my head, my voice soft, "this is nothing compared to fangirls. Aren't I right?" It was a crap joke but it got the job done. Sasuke was beginning to calm down, his shaking slowing, "We'll be fine. I _know_ things." _I see dead people_. Okay, no, no pop-culture references that won't be understood.

"Are you mocking me?" He asked, turning to look at me indignantly.

"Nope. Just telling you to focus. We'll be fine. We got Kakashi and he'd rather die himself than let a teammate die, let alone a _student_."

With my words, Sasuke's fear began to change into annoyance. Ahh, why am I a hopeless conversationist.

"So says the weakest link."

"Yeah." I left it at that, smoothing my temper and natural 'jump-the-gun' attitude. I concentrated, instead, on Tazuna, keeping close enough to him so that I would be able to keep the old guy safe. That was Sakura's job after all. The weakest link. Shit, I didn't expect for that insult to hurt so much.

Then I felt a flash of KI. Ugh, this was stressful. Zabuza, that dick, was throwing something in our direction. Without a second thought, as if to get back at Sasuke's earlier words, despite the killer intent, I leapt up and used my momentum to block the sword. As I was paired with my kunai, I used my weight and strength to throw off the sword's aim. Well, it was _supposed_ to work exactly like that. And it did... right up until the last part when I sailed along with the sword into God knows where.

I landed in the water, unfortunately. _Stupid gravity. _I think the sword continued on, landing, probably, in another tree. I didn't care to verify. I got out of the water as fast as possible, thankful that it wasn't winter. Still, it was freezing cold. It took me a minute to adjust myself to the situation.

Kakashi had a kunai to Zabuza's throat saying, "Its over." I would've done a happy dance had I not been so nervous. And had I not known what in the frick would happen next.

"Hehe, it's over? You just don't get it. There's no way you can beat me in those monkey-like imitations. Hehe, but that was impressive of you and your kid. At that time you had copied my Water Clone no Jutsu. Then that tall ass freak of yours redirected my sword. After that, you had a clone with the other kids. And the real one hid."

I gasped, offended, "I'm _not_ that tall!"

Yet he ignored me, as if I were the wind. "Nice plan," Zabuza, that bastard, continued, "Only I'm not that easy."

And then I fully recalled what was next; that was a fake in the grip of Kakashi and the real one had just slid behind the Copy-Nin. To add to it, Zabuza had managed to retrieve his sword, having used a clone to get it while I had been in the water. Then Zabuza began to relentlessly swing at Kakashi as he dove and ducked.

It got to the point that _Kakashi_ was the one in the water, although something was off about that.

"Hehe," Zabuza laughed, "Fool. Water Prison no Jutsu. You may have been trying to escape the water but that was a big mistake. Now I have you in my inescapable water prison. It makes it tougher if you move, ya know? I'll finish you later, first I'll take care of _them_."

Zabuza then sent a clone. While the real one kept Kakashi imprisoned, the freshly made clone advanced on us.

This clone spoke, "Hehe, wearing headbands and calling yourself a ninja? You're only a shinobi if you survive brushes with death. In short... the only time you'd be a real ninja is if you're in my book. Until then you should not call yourself a ninja." All the while as he spoke, the clone came closer to the others.

And I knew what Zabuza would do. I wouldn't let him however. God damn it. Staying out of the way was tougher than I thought it would be.

"Naruto!" I yelled out a warning just as I untied my weights and jumped forward, running the fastest I'd ever gone. I was fast enough to protect the idiot but the blow was still dealt, sending me flying backwards as it connected. And holy crap, it _hurt._ In the end, I found myself on my side, throbbing in pain from the skid marks.

Distantly, I heard Kakashi speak, "Guys, get out! He's too strong for you! Take Tazuna and run! As long as he keeps me trapped he can't move and his water clone can't move a long distance from him."

This seemed to make Naruto upset. Hell, it made me upset. I'd rather die than leave Kakashi. Ahem, I mean, abandon the mission. However, it looked to be serious for the blonde as he looked to me, and his gaze slid to something on the ground. I followed his eyes to see that in the fray of what I'd just been through, my head band had just fallen off. The blonde looked to be in a war with is... until he looked at his bandaged hand. His face filled with determination and he got up a ran forward.

He went to me, surprisingly enough, and on his way, picked up my head band. When he reached me, he held out a hand. My eyes widened. The sun looked to be... shining through the mist and his hair... was glimmering with heat. It seemed to reflect his passion, the fire that burned in his eyes. I swallowed thickly before taking his hand. Oh god, this boy would be the death of me.

"Hey, you freak," a thoroughly _pissed off_ Naruto said, turning from me and to Zabuza, "Put down in that book of yours the name of the man who'll become Hokage, Leaf Village Ninja 'Naruto Uzumaki'! Now Sasuke, Rikeya, lend me your ears."

"What is it?" Sasuke and I asked at the same time. In sync, we launched a glare at each other. Ugh, I hate him.

"I have a plan."

"Pft, teamwork from you?" Zabuza looked to be laughing at the notion. But the three of us weren't laughing. We looked to each other, carefully.

"Now," Naruto started, "lets get wild."

"A lot of arrogance from kids like you," Zabuza said, chuckling.

This did not please Kakashi. At all. Too bad.

"What are you doing? Take Tazuna and _run!_"

"Old man...?" Naruto looked at the bridge builder pleadingly.

"What? I planted this seed myself. I'm not going to say that I have so much desire to win that I'd stop you. I'm sorry guys... fight all you want."

"Pft," Sasuke smirked, "You hear that?"

"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei! You hear?" I ground out stubbornly. Gah, this moment was so pretty.

"You guys ready?" Naruto asked us shortly thereafter, and Zabuza began to laugh hysterically.

"Hehehe! You guys will never grow up! "

"What!?" Naruto asked, anger evident in his stare.

"Not going to quit playing 'ninja', eh? When I... when I was about your age... these hands were already dyed red with blood!" The look he gave us sent chills down my back. The killer intent coming at us nearly made me choke on my breath. The ship didn't sink, however. It was rather resilient.

"Akuma Zabuza..." muttered Kakashi.

"So you've heard a little about it."

"Long ago, in the Hidden Mist village, also known as Blood Mist village, there was a final obstacle to become a ninja." It was Kakashi explaining this, looking to us, hoping we'd be intimidated. He wasn't really telling me anything I didn't know.

"Hmm, you even learned of the graduation exam..."

"The exam?" Naruto asked, confused. Zabuza only laughed, "What exam thing?" He asked again.

Zabuza chuckled some more before saying, "It's a fight to the death between the students. Students who had eaten food together and trained with are pitted against each other until someone loses his life. These are friends who shared dreams and helped each other and in the end, had to rip each other's throats out and take the whole 'backstabber' reference to a _whole_ new level."

"Terrible..." I said softly, picturing the deaths, the tears, and the _joy_ some of these monsters had in killing.

"10 years ago the Hidden Mist graduation exam was forced to change... The change came after the previous year, when a devil came."

"What? What did the devil do?" Naruto asked.

"Without pause or hesitation... a young boy who wasn't even a ninja... had killed over a hundred students."

I felt like I was going to be sick. It was kind of different being told this to yourself, than reading about it or watching. Very different. But then again, my sickness may have come from another source. Zabuza's clone had appeared before me, catching me off guard and slamming me to the ground as he kicked my chest. I coughed up blood.

_Damn it, this was supposed to be Sasuke._

"Rikeya!" My name was called from all around.

"You're a curious thing. I can't feel your chakra or presence, can't have you coming out to trick me, can I?"

"I-Get off!" I spat out as I clawed at the foot on top of my chest. Shit, what the frick was he talking about? I couldn't hide my chakra if there was so much of it. I didn't _have _that kind of chakra control.

"Die," he said and kicked me again. I coughed up more blood, suddenly seeing dark spots in my vision.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

_I'm not Sasuke! I can't pull it off like that! _I thought, recalling what had happened next. God damn it, I was _not_ ready to do this.

"I'm ready!" Naruto, or should I say the Naruto's, shouted.

Zabuza relaxed and stepped slightly away from me.

"Shadow Clones... and a lot of them."

"Here I come!" The Uzumaki yelled out and all of the shadow clones launched themselves at Zabuza. Panting, I got out of the way just as Zabuza and the clones got in a tussle. In the fray, Naruto threw the 'weapon' into the air and with the little strength I had, I caught it.

Then I turned to Sasuke yelling out his name and throwing it to _him._

_That's better._

Sasuke caught it gracefully and unfolded the Wind Shuriken and announced, "Evil Wind Shuriken: Shadow Windmill."

Zabuza's clone snorted, "A mere Shuriken won't work on me."

Nonetheless, Sasuke threw it with perfect aim toward the _real _Zabuza.

"I see-, you're aiming for the real me... but... that's not enough!" He caught the Shuriken just as the Shadow Shuriken came into view, "Another one in the shuriken's shadow?"

"That 's Shadow Shuriken no Jutsu for you!" I told him, my tone rather angry and pissed off.

"But," Zabuza chuckled while he dodged it, "Still not enough."

The Uchiha and I smirked. The' shuriken' poofed in a cloud of smoke and it revealed a grinning Naruto with a kunai. He threw it, forcing Zabuza to release his hold on his water prison as the kunai sailed through the air. I think it nicked him but I couldn't see from where I stood.

Angered, Zabuza tried to use the Wind Shuriken he'd caught, about to launch it. I flinched when it happened, preparing for the worst. However, Kakashi had recovered by then and stopped Zabuza, forcing his arm in the way of the weapon. With this occurrence, Kakashi looked thoroughly _pissed off. _I felt the same yet...

"Kakashi-sensei!" I yelled in excitement and Naruto arose from the water he'd landed in with the sound of sucking in air.

"Nice 'plan', Naruto. You guys have grown up quite a bit."

"Hehe," Naruto grinned at our sensei's praise and I couldn't help but smile too.

This had been pretty cannon, right?

Though I didn't get to see if it continued as cannon had done, with Haku showing up and stuff, as moments later, my brain clouded over and I passed out.

_Lame._

* * *

OMAKE - Mysterious

(In Which She Is Looked Upon)

(￣ヮ￣)

* * *

She was pretty, in a weird sort of way. Her hair was long and beautifully maintained, her eyes always glimmering with mischief. She was rather tall though, towering over most boys in the class and fitting in oddly with the girls. Iruka felt pretty bad for her. She was before her time and surely, when she was older, the girl would garner more attention for her looks, than her smarts.

And that's where the real problem lay. Rikeya Miyamura was most likely the smartest girl in his class. She rivaled even Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Yet she held back, it seems, and was always so conscious over what grade she got. She knew, always, before he handed assignments back. It was like she was purposely dumbing herself down.

Which is why he had begun to modify her tests so as to get more specific results. In time, she slowly rose to the top, but he had kept her real grade a secret from her, so that she wouldn't dare to adjust accordingly. Iruka found that she was most pleased with average grades and just like her behavior, go without notice.

Rikeya was a rather quiet girl, and only spoke to Naruto. And as Iruka thought about it now, Rikeya was only ever _present_ when she spoke with the Jinchuuriki. Otherwise, her presence went unnoticed. In fact, now that Iruka thought about it, he couldn't ever actually sense her chakra either and only knew of it's vast contents from the Hokage, who spoke of her being the remainder of a once thriving clan with a rather bland, yet special kekkei genkai.

She was a one of a kind, that girl.

But she seemed rather lazy.

* * *

(￣ヮ￣)

* * *

**E/N****: ** REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW, Review, Yes, you know you wanna. I love you guys so much. Thanks for the support!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: HOLY CRAPPPP. 40 favs and 50 follows? You guys are the greatest thing. Thank youu sooo much for all the kind reviews.

**Disclaimer**: I only own Rikeya, and her rather stubborn personality.

**Beta**: Pleeeaaase, someone help me edit these things considering I suck so bad at it.

* * *

Memoirs of a Fangirl

by Miyuusen

4

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

I woke up to the feeling of my ribs aching.

My eyes fluttered open and I heard a soft gasp. Slowly, my hazy mind took in the fact that I was lying in a tatami mat and that we were safe. I sucked in a breath and immediately regretted it. _That'll hurt for a while._

"We're okay," I breathed as I sat up, grounding my teeth from the pain. _Probably just bruised_, I thought, touching my ribs. That was when I realized I wasn't alone in the room. A woman with warm brown eyes sat away from me with a concerned expression.

Nervously, I shifted and gave a hesitant smile, "Er, what happened?"

From the day before, all I could recall was the fight against Zabuza and really, I felt as if I had... passed out? Oh, god, how embarrassing.

"You might want to ask your teammates that," the woman replied, giving a smile of her own. It lit up her face and for a moment, it was as if she were prettiest person ever. It was what I imagined a mother would look with her child. I shifted again, this time, ignoring the slightest pang in my chest.

"Where are my teammates?" I asked her, attempting to distract myself.

"They're in another room," then she blushed, making her look younger, "So sorry for my impoliteness. Not really used to strangers," she paused, smiling as she said, "My name is Tsunami, I'm Tazuna's daughter."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Rikeya Miyamura."

"I know, they told me," then she grinned, "It's a very beautiful name."

I nodded, flushing as I did so and quickly asked, "Can, I er, see them now?"

She eyed my bandages doubtfully but nodded after I stood up. Tsunami led me down the hall from the room, a short quick walk but it left my ribs protesting vehemently against any movements. Yeah, I hate Zabuza.

As we entered the room, I saw that Sasuke, Tazuna, and Naruto sat around Kakashi, who sat up in his tatami mat. Sasuke sat in a corner, virtually ignoring everyone but Kakashi while Naruto sat with a scowl on his face, directly in front of Kakashi. Ah, this is my team. For a brief moment, I felt rather excited to see them. Then I calmed down when I saw how worn-out my sensei looked.

"Are you okay?" I asked, even as I knew that he had pushed his eye to the limit in his fight.

"I'll be fine," he murmured, his eye crinkling as he gave a smile. Or at least I thought it was a smile. "Nice to see you up and about."

"I slept like a log, I'm sure. So," I started awkwardly, "what are we doing? Discussing plans?"

"Yes, as it turns out Zabuza is not dead and he has an accomplice."

I nodded, but before I could say anything, Naruto spoke up, animatedly grinning as he informed me all that had ensued.

"You just _had _to faint didn't you?" He asked, then when I looked shamefully downwards he said, "But I guess it's s'okay, after all, we have your back! But you really missed something awesome!" His blue eyes sparkled as continued, "There was this Hunter-Nin, right? So he came to get Zabuza's body but Kakashi-sensei said that Hunter-Nin usually destroy the body first. But this guy didn't so now we think that Zabuza is still alive and stuff."

"So basically," I started, attempting to summarize my thoughts and his speech, "before I passed out, some dude came and took a nearly dead Zabuza Momochi away. But because he didn't dispose of the body right away, he's not a hunter-nin, meaning Zabuza is alive but injured. Alright," I looked to them with a grin, "So what's the next step?"

"Training."

I opened my mouth to say something but quickly shut it as the door banged open, alarming me as I jumped up in the air.

"Shinobi are worthless things!" The insult echoed off the walls just as a moody looking kid entered, his eyes dark and damp.

_Oh...It's _this_ kid. _For some reason, he wasn't as cute as I thought he would be. Bummer.

Irritated at being interrupted, I glared at him, "Such big words, little kid. Want to test that theory?"

"Be nice," Kakashi chided me and Naruto jumped up, pointing at the kid. Our sensei promptly sighed.

"Who are you!?"

Tazuna spoke up too, shouting, "Inari? Where have you been?"

"Welcome back, grandpa."

"Inari, don't be rude, these are the ninjas who saved your grandfather's life. Say hello."

"Mom they're going to die."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, LITTLE BRAT?" Naruto questioned, angered. Attempting to be the bigger man, I held him back and chided him.

"Don't get angry at a little kid..." Ah, hypocrisy at its finest.

I zoned out after that, closing my eyes and groaning quietly. Distantly, I heard Naruto and Inari bicker and the kid leave. I ignored that and somehow managed to blank what happened next, as I sat down with a scowl on my face.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

The next day was awful, horrendously awful.

"So we'll be learning to climb trees? Cool!" Naruto shouted, gleefully excited and Kakashi nodded. I scowled.

"Kakashi... um, can I do something else?" I asked, then awkwardly hopped on my feet, embarrassed, "I... don't have the chakra control to do something like this."

He looked to me thoughtfully, then nodded, "Maybe you should just focus on your taijutsu for now. But you'll be lacking a partner as the boys will be too busy."

Tilting my head, I nodded, "I understand."

His eyes glimmered as he murmured, "Good luck," to the three of us and left the clearing. For a moment, we all stood, awkwardly looking to each other.

"Alrighty, boys," I spoke up, "let's get to work."

But really, I'd be a liar if I said I _just_ worked on taijutsu. Instead, I attempted to strengthen my chakra control, a fruitless task. But it was one I continuously fell prey too. I would use the good old leaf trick, trying to get it to stick to my forehead. By now, after _years_ of practice, I could get it to stick for about 30 minutes. Most Genin should actually be able to hold it for at least 5 hours, if not more. But I'm lame, lame, _lame._

Still, I tried, gathering my chakra at the center of my forehead. There it was, so much of it. I could feel it all, so much of it running in my coils, dense and waiting to be used. It always felt that way, as if I could reach out and grab it, but I never could. It was almost like I had something blocking me from making complete contact and I was left clutching at a small trickle of what I had thrumming through my body.

To say that it was frustrating would be an understatement.

After that, when I had exhausted myself considerably (I had managed to hold on for an extra two minutes), I went ahead and started on my warm-up. It was just simple stretches, pushups and situps. I would usually waste 5 minutes doing this before launching myself into more strenuous activities. They were ones that Lee and Gai had taught me, things to make up for my lack of chakra.

Instead of using chakra to jump up, I would have to rely on physical ability, which at first I lacked considerably. But after a whole month of training with those two, I now had calves of steel. Sadly, I had grown bulkier too, probably lessening my attractiveness but at the moment I was too young for anything romantic anyway. My shoulders had grown broader, my height increasing by two awful inches. But at least I could jump higher than any civilian could ever hope to dream of.

So I would practice jumping, tightening my weights so that I wouldn't have to worry about them falling off, and usually I would make it to the first branch. I wasn't as good at it as Lee, who could jump from tree to tree with an agility I lacked thanks to my size. Yet I was getting there.

Soon after, when I tired of these laborious tasks, I would begin to launch myself into taijutsu practice, sparring against a tree due to my sad lack of a sparring partner. With my growing strength, I would focus on being able to crush the bark, to chop through it.

It was something all Kunoichi must think on: whether or not to lose their soft muscles and agility for a body type that was more hard-hitting. I didn't have much of a choice, however, thanks to my suckiness of chakra control. I had no jutsu for a back up plan so instead I would have to focus on my speed and strength, so that when the day would come that I'd have to kill, I could do it swiftly and quickly.

After that, I would rest, then go into stretches, only to go into building up my psychical ability. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat.

Hopefully, now, no one can say I never tried.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

The boys were being ridiculous. Naruto and Sasuke were eating large helpings of food to the point that they got sick. It made me worried for multiple reasons. Tazuna and his family were rather poor but I guess as long as they didn't waste anything. I just hoped they didn't throw any of it up when they got back to training. Both had been adamant about training till dusk to dawn. I expected that from Naruto but not Sasuke. _This rivalry is really getting to him... in many ways. _Sighing as I watched them, I finished my food and joined Tsunami in cleaning the dishes.

"This is kind of nice," she started out with, giving me her motherly smile. My heart began to ache but I quickly ignored it with a jerky nod. I sometimes don't understand my bodily reactions. Maybe I'm sick? Didn't feel like it but only time will tell.

"I guess it is."

"It's been awhile," she began, "since we've had so many guests. We usually can't afford it but some of the villagers were kind enough to spare some food in their thanks."

I nodded, my shoulders slumping, "Say, when this bridge is completed... will you not have to worry about things like that?"

She shrugged, "Father says that we won't but I have a feeling that the bridge will only lessen our load. Hopefully it's the former. I hate being _too_ pessimistic."

"As long as it's a little then... I think this mission is worth it."

She turned to me then, setting aside the dish she had been scrubbing and looked me in the eye, "Thank you, Rikeya-san."

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

"So why do you guys have a picture like this?" I found myself asking, caught up in what I could do to keep this story cannon. It was the next day, it being the fifth day of the week. Sasuke and Naruto were finishing up their meals while Inari glared at the blonde and Tazuna was laughing as he made fun of Naruto. Tsunami had been giggling softly whereas Kakashi sat in a chair stiffly, probably ignoring the pain he was in. It was the average scene that came during our stay during dinner.

Everyone glanced up at this question. I stood there, staring at a photo of the family that had a corner ripped off. Silence.

"Inari was staring at it, that's why..." I mumbled, flushing at how awkward I was making things. But this was a needed scene in the story, I think. One that would let Naruto understand Inari better, and vice-versa.

Turned away, Tsunami spoke softly, "It's... my husband."

"And," Tazuna was adding, "the hero of the city."

Apparently it was too much for the little kid as he got up from his spot and marched out of the room. I sighed. People were so angsty sometimes. _Shut up, you hypocrite._ I sighed again. But I guess I could understand, I too had lost a father, in both lives, actually.

"Inari! Where are you going?" Tsunami yelled out worriedly, her eyes dark when the small boy had vanished from view, she turned with a scowl directed to her father, "Tou-san! I have told you not to talk about that man in front of him!"

"I wonder... what's wrong with Inari?" I asked, using the same idiotic words Sakura had used in cannon. It was kind of obvious really, that Inari had some sadness in his life that revolved around that man.

"Inari had a father not related by blood," Tazuna started and I tilted my head in question, "They were close. Like a real father and son... Inari would laugh a lot back then.. but Inari changed since the incident with his father."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, getting curious by this change of events.

Tazuna continued, "The word 'courage' has been stolen from the people of this island... and... from Inari. Ever since that day... because of that incident."

"What's the incident? What happened to Inari?" I asked, grudgingly accepting my role as a simple-minded idiot.

"Before I get to that I have to tell you of the man who was called the hero of this city."

"Hero...?" Naruto asked.

"It's been three years since he's met that man. The day they met, Inari had been in a fight with some other kids. They were fighting over a dog. His name was Pochi, so said Inari and he loved him. The other kid called him Shooting Star. So you see, this rotten kid threw the dog into the water claiming that he didn't like animals. Inari can't swim and alas just had to sit by and watch. But due to the kids pushing _him _in the water, he was almost drowning. Pochi had been able to dog paddle to shore but Inari was left.

"Inari passed out in the water and woke up with a man asking, 'You finally awake, kid?' when Inari didn't answer, he said, 'I yelled and taught those bad kids a lesson'. The man fed him some fish and they discussed how Pochi had abandoned him and that 'Well, it's to be expected, you didn't try to save him either'. 'I was so scared, I couldn't move. I wanted to save him... but because I didn't have any courage...' Inari had trailed off. The man replied with 'Any kid your age would have been afraid but remember this... live a life of no regrets.' At Inari's curious gaze, he explained, 'For something that is precious to you... no matter how tough, how sad you must try and try. Even if you lose your life, protect what you hold dear with these two arms. If you do that... even if you die, the proof of a man's life will remain... forever.'"

"He sounds like a good man," I said, miffed over the fact that I now felt like hugging the kid.

"His name was Kaiza and he was a fisherman who came here to follow his dreams. After that the two became very close. Whether it's because his own father died but they were inseparable, close enough to be father and son. It was only a matter of time before he became part of the family," Tazuna paused, his eyes going dark, his shoulders slumping forward, "Kaiza was also a man that was needed by the town. The night he died, the town needed him. The rain had been overflowing the dams and the town was in danger of being flooded. Inari tried his best to help him but when it came down to his father doing something that could risk his life, he was adamant about him not doing it. When Inari had held after him, he merely said, 'Don't worry... your dad is invincible.. because your dad loves this city where you're from.' In the end, he stopped the flooding and was praised as the hero of the town. But..," Tazuna's voice choked up, "Gatou came to this city..."

"And then this incident happened?" Kakashi asked, "What exactly happened?"

"In front of everyone... Gatou put Kaiza to death."

I felt like I was going to be sick. Tears threatened to form as I thought about Inari, putting my self in his place. Soon, the tears threatened to spill but I held them back. I could so easily do that, put myself in the place of another kid whose father was their entire world. I could easily recall the time of 'before', when I heard the news that my father had passed. Inari had experienced Kaiser's death but in a _largely_ different fashion, and it was one that sucked. But I quickly hide my expression away, behind an impassive mask.

"I lost my own when I was young," Tazuna said, his gaze hollowed, "But it wasn't like that." I looked at Naruto, his own eyes were filled with anger as Tazuna continued, "When Gatou did this horrendous act, he had called Kaiza a terrorist against his company. From that day... Inari changed, Tsunami changed, the whole town changed."

A thoroughly _pissed off_ Naruto stood, tripping flat onto his face as his low chakra levels got to him. It would have been funny if I wasn't the only one feeling just passionate anger toward that _vile_ man.

"If you're thinking of training, take the day off. you've released to much chakra and you could die," Our sensei informed him.

"I'm going to prove it...,"Naruto ground out on the floor, "I'm going to prove, that in this world... Hero's _do exist._"

I felt shivers envelop my body.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

On the sixth night Naruto ended up confiding in me, informing me that the reason he hadn't come home the previous night was because he had passed out and in the morning, he had met a rather beautiful woman.

I knew instinctively that it was Haku. In fact,I had been thinking of them, of Zabuza and Haku just last night. I liked them... well, only Haku actually. Zabuza was sexy and all but he had beat me up, that bastard. But that was what made me curious about him. He claimed that he couldn't sense me... and this well, that was news to me. I didn't know people couldn't sense my chakra. Though, I suppose I should be happy about this. I mean, it could be that I now have another Mary-Sue attribute, one that would be _actually_ useful to me. But really, it just kind of made me curious about my family, of _this_ life. About my kekkei genkai, that Hiruzen had just explained to be something that increased my chakra reserves.

I hoped this curiosity wouldn't get me killed. I mean, I'm not a cat so it shouldn't, right?

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

On the seventh day, Naruto and Sasuke were both able to climb trees and Kakashi was well enough to balance me, Tsunami and Tazuna on his back while doing push ups with his two fore-fingers. Ah, happy day! It was also the day I got a sparring partner but I guess _that_ would occur after lunch. For right now, I helped Kakashi with his rehabilitation.

"Why did you stay even when I lied about the mission?"Tazuna was asking as I peered down from his shoulders. My thighs were wrapped around his neck as I sat on his shoulder blades (I had informed him that it was my duty to help him get stronger so that he could help out more with the bridge, but really, I just felt like causing him trouble), my legs dangling in their length. Tazuna sat on Kakashi's lower back and Tsunami was on my sensei's legs. It was funny to see my sensei struggle with this but I guess it's understandable.

"345... 'To abandon a duty is not courageous. Below the courageous... there is nothing.' Those are the Hokage's words. That is also the way of the ninja." A sy look sent to Tazuna, "Shinobi's don't just go after money."

"You also... have three kids here in danger, what about them?"

"347," Kakashi muttered as he went lower in his push up, "I would be lying if I said I had complete faith that they can handle this," I let out an indignant 'hey' but he ignored it, continuing as if I said nothing, "but I will protect them with my life."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei," I let out with a teasing tone, "You're surprisingly sentimental."

"I suppose you can say that," then after he went down again, he murmured, "if you don't want that spar with me."

"Heh, what did you hear me say? I think that was just the wind."

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

Later that night, as we had finished up dinner, I sat awkwardly between Inari and Kakashi, everything quiet. Naruto and Sasuke came into the room then, bringing their shared noise into the room. Inwardly I felt relief but I glared at them, as if they were intruding. Sasuke carried Naruto, his arm around the Uchiha's neck. They both looked thoroughly exhausted and I hopped up to take Naruto, being as helpful as I ever was.

"We climbed to the top," Naruto muttered proudly when I set him on an empty chair. Kakashi gave them the '_I'm-proud-but-you-look-like-death_' stare but I doubt they understood it.

"Well boys. Tomorrow you'll be helping Rikeya guard Tazuna." Kakashi settled his gaze on me, "You think you're ready?"

"Yes," I affirmed, miffed at the prospect that I _wasn't_. Why was he asking just me? Insulting bastard.

He then turned to look at us all with an intense stare, "If Zabuza shows up, be careful."

We nodded, the ever-diligent ninja we are. Not.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

I was preparing for bed when I left to get a glass of water, only to bump into my arch nemesis, Sasuke Uchiha. He glared at me, glass in hand as we just stared at each other.

"Move."

He's so rude.

Sighing, I decided to get it over with, what I had been thinking of doing for a while now, "Sorry." There I said it, the magic words. Now can you like me, or tolerate me, whatever.

He blinked, obviously caught off guard as he shifted awkwardly on his feet, "What do you mean?"

"On that day... I, uh... spoke out of line," I told him, pouting as I looked at his onyx eyes

"It's to be expected from a moron," he muttered, his voice serious, "Move," he repeated.

Suddenly, I started to laugh.

"You're so misunderstood," I told him, wincing at the pain of laughing but continuing nonetheless , "People say you're depressing to be around but you really _are _cute."

"_Cute?_" He looked mortified at my words and I went in to half-heartedly ruffle his hair. He dodged, glaring at me.

"Ne," I teased, "Do you _like_ me?" I chuckled at the prospect of _that_, but went on with my joke, "I've heard rumors that you like long hair because of your mom."

Sasuke gave me a look of pure hatred, "I am so done with you."

I continued to laugh madly while I watched him turn the other direction. Haha, I am _hilarious._ Not really but _still_.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

The next day, we headed out, leaving a nearly comatose Naruto behind. The idiot had pushed his body to it's limit so we had ended up letting him rest. He could join us when he needed to. And really, it made me giddy with how cannon this occurrence was.

"Sasuke," I called as he sped past me. I don't really know why I said it but I was bored. Since Tazuna wasn't a ninja and couldn't travel quickly it seemed like years were passing with the time being used up.

"Hmm?" He didn't spare me a glance.

"I think you should carry me there." I was merely joking, "Because you _like_ me."

The mutinous glare he sent me allowed me to laugh off any stress I had gained up until this point in time. Still, I went on in my bullying nature.

"You're _so_ lame," I cackled after that and then grinned, "Just kidding, you are fabulous."

Sasuke sneered at me, "You're one to talk, you're the weakest one on the _team_."

"I guess that's true," I agreed, ignoring the pang of annoyance this made me feel.

A few minutes later when we reached our destination, I was so involved in my thoughts that I hadn't realized that we'd walked into a virtual massacre. Bodies lay strewn across the mostly completed bridge. Sasuke let me down as we stared at the mess. How heartless of me... to think of it as a mess.

Tazuna, panicked, running up to one who was moaning in pain. The others were silent, "What happened?"

"A... monster," the man gasped out, coughing up blood and he lay there writhing from the oh so obvious pain of his wounds. They were lethal. No hope for that guy.

Abruptly, I felt the flare of a familiar chakra, his killer intent. Zabuza's. But there was another one. Haku most likely/

I tensed, and moved to stand close to Tazuna, Sasuke and Kakashi doing the same.

The mist began to fall.

My muscles clenched so tightly, I felt pain. The killer intent from Zabuza was being launched at us, making me cringe in fear. _Stay strong._ It was so strange, being fearful like this. Even Sasuke was shaking so badly I heard his kunai rattle in the intensity of it. I moved slightly closer to him, making sure to make sound. The Uchiha looked at me, gulping down his fear. I nodded towards him in encouragement. His body still didn't stop shaking. Instead, I felt him attempt a glare. It was sad really.

"Hey Kakashi, long time no see. You're still with those kids and oh look one's shaking," Zabuza's deep throaty voice came

"I," Sasuke started, clearing his throat, "am shaking from excitement." The Uchiha then gave me a pointed look. Thinking about earlier, I felt my eye involuntarily twitch from my agitated toward him. I had a feeling that this would be a continuous love-hate relationship I got with him.

To make matters worse, ten water clones of Zabuza appeared, leaving us all confused on who was the real one. Sucking in my breath, I waited for something to happen. Ugh, Zabuza and his S-rank status piss me off.

"Do it, Sasuke," Kakashi told the Uchiha boy and with a speed I hadn't known Sasuke had, he whipped out a wind Shuriken and sliced the water clones up. It seemed to happen in a blink of an eye. _Damn, he's improved again. Now it'll take longer for me to catch up._ Gosh I hate him.

"You can't fool me," Sasuke muttered as he glared at the two ninjas who had entered into view.

"Heh, he saw through them. Looks like a rival, eh Haku?"

"Yes indeed," an androgynous voice said and a beautiful man came into view, well his face was covered but I already knew what he looked like. My eyes widening, I could barely restrain the squeal that I wanted to let loose at the sight of _Haku_. I wanted to... touch him. Crap, I am so creepy.

"The masked one who pretended to be a hunter-nin is Zabuza's comrade," Kakashi pointed out.

"He should stop hiding under that mask and face us." Tazuna complained.

"I'll fight him," Sasuke ground out, his voice and face serious. I could call him an idiot for this but chose not to. This was kind of what lead him to getting his sharingan. How cool is it that I get to be here to see it!? Ugh, no... no, Rikeya. It is not cool, not in the slightest, you idiot.

"Tricking us with something like that," Sasuke muttered, "I hate bastard like that the most."

"Even if the clones have only 1/10th of the original, it was still impressive," Haku said, voice calm as he talked about how Sasuke had taken down the water clone. I wondered if I'd be able to do it myself.

Zabuza laughed heartily, "Doesn't matter. We still have the advantage. Go, Haku!"

With those last words, the two launched themselves at each other, sparks flying as their weapons clashed.

"Go, Sasuke!" I cheered, ever so loyal to my teammates.

"Rikeya, step in front of Tazuna and don't leave his side."

"On it!"I called to him and did what he asked, multi-tasking as I watched Sasuke anxiously.

"I don't want to kill you. But it seems as if you won't be giving up," Haku said, his voice soft beneath the mask.

"Don't be stupid," Sasuke replied, his gaze focused.

"I see... but you won't be able to keep up with my speed next time, plus I've gained two advantages."

"Two?" Sasuke scoffed.

"One, the water. Two, I've got one of your hands busy," Haku's words were matter-of-fact. I wasn't surprised when he began to sign with only one of his hands but Sasuke was caught completely off guard.

Water began to move around the two, shaping into needle-like drops, becoming dense. There was a pause as the water needles readied themselves to strike. In that moment, the look of concentration on Sasuke's face calmed me. The moment passed but the Uchiha was ready. Just as the needles were about to kill him, Sasuke focused the chakra of his body to his feet and _launched_ himself into the air, avoiding death. So _freaking_ cool, but I would never admit that aloud.

Sasuke and Haku engaged in hand to hand, the former obviously gaining in speed. Haku sailed in the air as Sasuke kicked him.

"Looks like I have the advantage here in speed," Sasuke muttered cooly, slightly breathless.

Kakashi chuckled, "Can't have you underestimating my team by calling them 'brats'. Sasuke is the leaf villages #1 rookie. Rikeya here the brightest. And the other is...," Kakashi's tone of voice changed to a slightly sarcastic bored one, "the _show-off, _hyperactive, # 1 loudest ninja in the village."

Zabuza eyed me, "We can't have that, can we?" He was probably thinking something along the lines of '_that little runt, the brightest?'. _In truth, Kakashi might be stretching it but considering my IQ, it could be a half-truth. Shikamaru would be the smartest of the village.

But I ignored Zabuza for the most part, and watched as Haku trapped Sasuke.

Naruto should be coming soon. I jumped on the balls of my feet in excitement. And no sooner than when I thought it, the blonde had arrived. I rolled my eyes at the entrance he made. _So loud_. Smirking, I turned my attention to Kakashi's fight knowing full well that the boys could handle this.

Zabuza had attacked Kakashi, his own kunai piercing the glove and skin of my sensei's hand. Wincing at the blood falling from the wound, I kept focused on the body language and not the spoken exchange the two had. Kakashi wasn't worried over the cut though when he lifted his headband it was obvious that he _was _worried over the fight. Zabuza's body showed that he didn't give a damn, not unsurprisingly.

Quickly, the missing-nin disappeared like mist dissolving while Tazuna gasped. I calmly watched as shortly thereafter weapons were thrown in Kakashi's direction. The Sharingan was probably the only reason he dodged them all. Without it, it was in his blind spot and even with his Jounin level sensory skills, he would've been hit with at least one. I breathed a sigh of relief but tensed when the mist got suddenly _thicker._

Kakashi's reactions would be slower due to this _stupid_ mist.

With a flurry of motion, I reacted from instinct as I recalled Zabuza going for Tazuna. I didn't think, just reacted to the knowledge I has and I was met with Zabuza's large sword, my weak kunai breaking clumsily. _Oh Kami that _hurt. I clutched my chest, blood spilling from the newly given wound. _Shit, shit, shit._ I had broken cannon, god damn it.

"I was a little bit faster than you, Kakashi," I murmured in a joking tone. That's right, Rikeya, play off your stupidity with a crappy humor. The mentioned stared in horror, most likely recalling the people he had also lost when he failed to protect them. Sighing and wincing from the pain, I waved his concerns away and faced Zabuza.

"You knew where I'd go, didn't you?" Zabuza asked.

I laughed, my head becoming light, "You don't have to worry about that."

"I suppose you're right," Zabuza chuckled, lifting up his gigantic ass sword. My blood dripped off its edges.

"Hey, Kakashi. I'm gonna take this little girl out first. Don't worry I'll send you after her. I'm sure Haku's already finished them off by now so those boys will be there and then you'll have to explain why you're so weak that you couldn't protect them." Zabuza laughed sickly.

Angered, I felt myself shout, "They won't be beaten!"

"Exactly," Kakashi agreed and then added, "I believe in their strength. Naruto's determination and Sasuke is the offspring of the leaf village's most outstanding clan."

"You mean..."

"Yeah, his name is Sasuke Uchiha. That's right, a genius ninja who has the advanced blood of the Uchiha clan running through his veins."

"The offspring of that tragic clan. But Haku's the same. Nobody has ever defeated his special jutsu."

Zabuza faded away much to our dismay.

"Tazuna, Rikeya _stay_ here," Kakashi commanded. _Now he's treating me like some dog. _He left, jumping away. But I stayed anyway.

That's when I felt it. In short, I felt _suffocated. _My vision darkened, my senses clouding. I couldn't even _think _anymore. The chakra in the air was _angry_ and dense and after a couple strained moments, I realized that this was the Kyuubi's chakra. I truly felt as if I were dying. Choking up, I felt tears pool at my eyes.

It felt as if an eternity had passed before I gained control over myself. The presence of chakra wasn't repenting but I could at least _think_ now. Then from a little bit away, I could hear my sensei and Zabuza's fight. Their conversation exchanged kind of clued me in on what was all going on.

"These are my cute nin dogs," my shinobi announced, and I imagined all of his viciously growling dogs latching onto the body of Zabuza Momochi. "Their sense of smell exceed that of all other dogs. The mist is useless now. Your future is death."

"My future is death? I'm sick of your bull shit."

"Don't be foolish, there's nothing you can do in this situation. Your death is certain. Zabuza... you went too far. Your ambition was too great. You abandoned the Hidden Mist, became a missing nin. Your story even reached the Hidden Leaf. Your attempted coup d'etat and assassination of the Mizukage failed. You needed money for revenge," Kakashi paused, beginning to sign, "And you needed to avoid hunter-nin. That's probably why you attached yourself to scum like Gatou."

Kakashi's jutsu was ready now, I'd imagine. I could picture it now: he'd form a ball of chakra in his hand that seemed to move the air around it like lightning. Only, it didn't come in the next few seconds. I felt myself grow agitated, nervous, and I felt like crying. I wanted to do something, to save Haku... but cannon. Cannon, cannon, cannon, cannon. It was a mantra in my head as the images of Haku's life filled my head, images of him dying, hanging at Kakashi's hand.

"Lightning Edge!" Kakashi shouted and I held firm to my spot, murmuring my mantra by now, struggling with myself. It surprised me how _much_ I wanted to save Zabuza and Haku. But I stayed and listened, trying to focus on the present.

"You are too dangerous," Kakashi informed him, his eyes most-likely intense, "Tazuna, who you're trying to kill, is this countries 'courage'. This bridge he seeks to build is this countries 'hope'. Your ambitions sacrificed many people. _That's _not what a shinobi should do."

"I don't give a _damn_, I fight for my own ideals. And that _will_ continue."

Kakashi ignored this, and I imagine he just stared at him, his eyes so dark and angry, "I'll ask this again."

"Hm?" was Zabuza's only reply.

"Surrender. Your future is death."

There were sounds... oh god, the sounds. It all happened so quick but I imagine that the sound of a slick _crunch_ of bones and scuffling was that of Haku's death. I stood, as a frozen as stone.

The mist began to clear up, as I knew Haku had been the one behind it.

And I saw... I saw Haku, blood... so much blood, and the look of shock on Kakashi's face as he slowly realized that he hadn't killed Zabuza, but his '_tool'._

"Za...bu...za...san," I heard Haku's small voice say, his last breath leaving him as he did so.

Heartlessly, I watched as Zabuza's eyes smirked, and he murmured, "My future is death? Heh... you're wrong again, Kakashi."

It was too late to change anything though. Too late to break cannon. Too late to save Haku.

"Is that the masked boy?" I heard Tazuna ask and I nodded, fighting back a whimper.

"Hehe, great job, Haku." And I saw it, in my head, almost as if I had the manga before me. I closed my eyes, not wanting to watch as Zabuza would attempt to use Haku's body as a way to hurt Kakashi. But just as I opened my eyes again, I saw Kakashi move away, pushing Haku's body off of his hand and moving out of Zabuza's way. The latter swung his sword to a stop and straightened his body.

"Ah, with Haku dead, you can move."

Kakashi didn't say anything to that, instead shooting a look in the direction of Naruto, "Stay there." he ordered and the Jinchuuriki ground his teeth, eyes focused on Haku's fallen body. Kneeling down, I watched silently as Kakashi closed Haku's eyes, only looking up with a look so deep and intense I too felt his killing intent, "This is my fight."

Grudgingly, I realized that Naruto would need a distraction from going in to fight Zabuza, so I did what Sakura had done, calling out to him, I shouted his name.

He looked up, the deep look snapping off from his face as his eyes focused on me. I'm not going to lie, I felt _so_ glad to see him safe. Then, I waved him over, and he came bounding over, his face looking stricken as came closer.

"Sasuke..." he murmured and looked in pain as he said the name. My heart constricted, my breathing halted. Naruto's pain... the tears that had been pooling slipped out and I reached out to Naruto, hugging him briefly before I turned away to look to Tazuna. How looked down at me pityingly.

"I'll go with you so you won't break your sensei's orders." Tazuna offered and I nodded, reaching out to take his hand. I led us to where I knew Sasuke lay, passing by the fight and coming up to the Uchiha. I winced at the needles in his neck and dropped to my knees, hand going forward to caress his face.

"He's cold," I murmured the fact, eyes dark as I thought of Haku, who was probably already without heat.

"Don't mind me. Let it out and cry..." Tazuna said and I shook my head.

Instead of crying, I chose the words Sakura had said, if not personalizing them as I continued to stare down at Sasuke, "I... I usually scored pretty high on my tests. I wanted... to be average so I wouldn't _always_ put the right answer but I remember... I remember how our sensei had told us to memorize the shinobi sayings." I paused, swallowing as my throat felt parched, "And on one test... there was the question: write down shinobi saying #25. This time... I wrote the right answer."

Unlike Sakura, I didn't start to cry over Sasuke, I knew he wasn't dead. Instead, I felt the sobs come from Haku's death, of how I was too stuck in my ways to ever consider changing cannon for the better. I cried, the tears spilling down my face as it scrunched up.

I continued speaking, however, quoting after the book I had been forced to memorize, "'No matter what the situation is... a shinobi must keep their emotions on the inside. You must make the mission your top priority... and you must posses a heart that never shows tears'."

I wanted this all to be over, this bad, bad, _bad_ dream over and done with. I didn't want to be here, where death is the norm. I didn't want to have to kill people due to orders and have to hide my emotions from the world. I didn't want to have to be afraid of living in this world. I didn't want _this._

Giving up on even trying, I laid my head down of Sasuke's chest and sobbed, releasing all of my pent up emotions as the tears slid grossly down my face.

Only when I heard a new voice enter did I look up, my eyes miserably puffy.

"Zabuza," Gatou had said, standing before us with his mob behind him. I glared at him, the person who was everything vile in the world.

"Gatou..." Zabuza was saying, face surprised, "Why are you here? And what's with all the men?"

The little shit laughed, grinning wretchedly as began, "There's a change of plans," another laugh, "Well, actually I planned to do this from the beginning. Zabuza," he pointed at him, with his walking stick, "I'm going to have you killed here."

"What!?"

"I never planned on paying you any money," To Zabuza's counteractive glare, he continued, "Hiring a normal ninja from the village is expensive and they may betray me... So I get you missing-nin's, who, might I say, are so _easy_ to take care of afterwards. I have the ninja's battle, and when they are weakened, I kill them off with numbers. In the end, I don't spend any money. Wonderful, don't you think?"

Then Gatou's grin fell when he turned to glare at the shinobi, "The only problem in the plan was you... The Devil of the Hidden Mist? What a joke! If you ask me, you're just a cute little baby devil." Behind Gatou, the mob cheered, hollering words of glee as they said mostly 'We can kill you now!' Pretentious idiots.

"Kakashi," Zabuza said, speaking up for the first time in a while. Both of his arms hung limply at his sides, thanks to Kakashi, "I'm sorry," he was saying, "This fight is over. Now that I have no reason to kill Tazuna... I have no reason to fight you."

I stood up then, watching as Gatou went up to Haku. I watched as he kicked the poor, dead boy. At the same time as Naruto, we jumped forward, shouting at the top of our lungs, "YOU BASTARD!"

But before Naruto could go charging in, I to follow, Kakashi grabbed at his collar, jerking him back, "What are you doing, idiot? Look at their numbers!"

Ignoring this, I turned to Zabuza, and saw the defeated look on his face. Naruto took notice as he shouted, "Say something, you jerk! Weren't you friends!?"

"Shut up, kid," Zabuza muttered, shoulders slouching forward, "Haku is dead."

"Don't you feel anything at all!?" Naruto asked, "_Weren't you two always together?_"

"As I was used by Gatou, I used Haku. That was all it was. In the shinobi world, there are those who use, and the ones who are used. We shinobi are simply tools. What I wanted was his blood, not him. I have no regrets."

"Hey... do you really mean that?" The blonde asked, his voice dropping to a lower octave, nearly breaking." Naruto broke away from Kakashi's grasp as he went closer to the missing-nin.

"Naruto!" Kakashi called to him, "We are not figh-."

"_SHUT UP_! My enemy is still _him_," Naruto insisted, pointing at Zabuza angrily as he panted over his exhaustion.

In the background, Gatou spoke up, asking, "Who is this annoying brat...?"

But Naruto paid no heed as his full attention was on Zabuza, "He...he really loved you! _He loved you that much! Do you _really_ feel nothing!? Nothing at all?_" Tears began to slid down Naruto's cheeks and for a second, tears clouded my vision as I took in the scene, "If I become as strong as you... will I _become_ like you?" Naruto questioned, pained eyes boring into Zabuza, "He threw his life away for you! Without his own dream... as a tool... _That's... just too sad_..." Naruto's voice broke, his anger dissipating slightly as he fell into despair over Haku, tears streaming down his face.

"Kid..." Zabuza spoke up quietly, turning to face Naruto, tears of his own now free to fall, "You don't need to say anymore... It pained him to have to fight you... Haku, not only for me... fought for you guys too. He was too kind," Zabuza paused, looking to Gatou's mob and then back at Naruto, "I'm glad I got to face you guys in the end... 'cause you may be right kid. A shinobi is still a human... we can't all become emotionless tools... Kid. Let me borrow your kunai."

I looked away then, for a brief moment. I didn't want to see this. I didn't want to watch Zabuza go of to his death, not like that. Not with those tears in his eyes. But I heard, oh how I heard Zabuza as he brought carnage to the mob, with but a simple kunai in his mouth. I listened to the Devil of the Hidden Mist village kill Gatou, listened as he said:

"You and I, together, are going to _hell_."

To that, I had to turn back, to watch as he then finished off Gatou and after giving us all one last look, collapsing to the ground.

"Don't look away," Kakashi ordered us, "from the end of a man who lived a difficult life."

We both nodded and soon, once it seemed Zabuza was dead, I turned back to Sasuke, falling to my weak knees and quietly heaving a sob into his chest. I wished this would end soon, that he'd wake up, and Inari would arrive with help...

"Rikeya...? You're so heavy..." I sat up, eyes bulging as I looked down at Sasuke, who's eyes were now open.

"Sasuke!" I breathed, and then, hugged him, unable to control the joy I had at being able to see my teammate alive and well. He groaned, "Rikeya... that hurts." Immediately, I pulled away, worriedly looking at him.

"Haku... he... he spared your life," I murmured, "You'll be fine," I informed him, mostly to convince myself of the fact.

"What... what about Naruto? And what happened to the kid?" Sasuke asked as he accepted my help in hauling him up.

"Naruto's fine. And the kid well... he's dead. Kakashi, er, killed him. I'll explain it all later, come on..." I muttered, dragging him forward so that Naruto could see the Uchiha, "Naruto!" I called and the blonde turned to face me, his face shifting from shock to joy in a heartbeat, although he would never admit to the later, as he met eyes with the raven-haired boy. Naruto's lip trembled and tears of happiness looked to be forming as he smiled. Sasuke gave a slight, grudgingly given, wave.

"I've been worried too, Naruto," Kakashi stated, looking at the goofily smiling blonde, "Sasuke is alright, that's grea-."

"HEY, HEY, HEY!" I jumped, startled at the voices who said that, "You guys are too at ease!" They continued. It was the remainder of the mob. Pretentious idiots.

Ugh, because I am so sick of all this drama, I'm just going to summarize what happened next. Basically, these little frickers thought it would be a grand idea to just have at us and go crazy with our blood and intestines or something. But then, before everyone could get _too_ crazy, Inari showed up like a god and saved the day.

Halle-friken-lujah.

(The funny thing is that Inari is an actual Japanese god, she's the fox deity known as Inari Okami. /Whispers/ _the more you know_)

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

Two weeks later, just the three of us, we held a private funeral for both Zabuza and Haku.

It was at sunset when we finally finished burying their bodies. And it was when the sun fell that I could finally speak. I was sitting in front of their graves, most likely with a thoughtful expression as my worthless tears had ran out a week ago. I sat there, just staring at that sword while knowing that it wouldn't stay there. Perhaps I should have done something to help them in their deaths, to allow them to not be resurrected later on.

I could still recall what had happened after Inari came and the snow began to fall. It had reminded me of home, of the time of before. Zabuza had asked Kakashi for a favor, and it was one that broke my heart to witness.

"_I want to see his face."_

"_Sure," Kakashi had murmured as he slid down his headband to rest over his spent sharingan. _

_And the snow began to descend, dropping and touching our heated faces and cooling it. I distantly heard the villagers speak of the oddity of the snow at such a time but I knew. I _knew_ why this snow had fallen, why it decided to blanket the day white. It represented, more than anything, the purity of Haku's soul. __**Pure as the driven snow.**_

"Kakashi-sensei," I started up, the others moving uncomfortably at the sound of my voice. Yeah, I had taken Haku's death kind of hard.

"Yes, Rikeya-san?"

"Were these two correct about ninja? That... That we're just tools to be used? To be sacrificed for a _mission_ despite the dreams we have?" I had never seen it like that when I had read the manga of _Naruto_, never taken the chance to see it as a _lifestyle_, something you _must_ live through to see the end. How stupid of me to think this _entertaining_. To think that I had thought I somehow had a free pass that allowed me to live? No, I had to get serious. But could I really change cannon? For the better? What if my actions made it worse? _What if someone I love dies?_

"A shinobi...," Kakashi began and I knew that he would be brutally honest with me, "Aren't supposed to pursue his own goals. Becoming the village's weapon is the most important thing. It's the same for Konoha."

"Is that really what it means to become a true shinobi?" Naruto asked, eyes downcast as he thought it over. Then, with a burning fire in his eyes, he shook his head, "You know what? I don't like it!"

Sasuke ignored him, instead, turning to Kakashi and asking, "You believe that too?"

"Well... each and every ninja has to live while dealing with that issue," his eye looked to Haku's grave, voice dropping an octave as he finished, "And that boy too."

"Ok! I've just decided! I'm going to become a ninja in my own way!" Naruto said, eyes shining bright. I stood, smiling the first smile that I had in the two weeks that had followed the death of Haku and Zabuza.

"You and me both!"

I had a feeling that Kakashi was pleasantly surprised as he gave us an eye-smile.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

* * *

The next day, we were due back at the village. My injuries, the cut Zabuza had inflicted, had healed into a jagged scar right at the center of my chest. I didn't feel bad about it, didn't feel as if I were uglier now that I had something that proved I had fought and lived to see another day. Instead, I took this scar as a reminder of the sadness to come if I didn't _do_ anything about it.

It was a kinda sad day. Naruto shared a touching goodbye with Inari, I had gotten some recipes from Tsunami, and Tazuna shook hands with Kakashi. Sasuke silently glared at the floor which was usual, I suppose. The only 'happy' moment was when Tazuna announced the bridge's name, "The Great Naruto Bridge!"

Naruto was supremely happy about that, shoving it in Sasuke's face, who merely smacked his head away.

Nonetheless, I think it was a depressing farewell for all of us. Even Tazuna patted my head, under Naruto's watchful eye, and murmured a soft, "We'll meet again." I wondered, on the way to Konoha, if we _would_ meet again. Well, it's not as if I'll have time. The... chunin exams are coming up_._ I pondered over how _that_ would turn out with my presence, if I changed anything. Probably horribly.

And now, I glance over at Sasuke as we continued walking forward. _He's going to get cursed... Should I let that happen?_ It was a lot to think about. And I only had a month left.

* * *

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

OMAKE - The Sleepover

(In Which She Stays The Night At His Home)

* * *

So, this is kind of awkward.

Naruto would agree, I suspect, as we stared at each other with identical frowns.

"What do... what do friends even do when they stay the night?" He asked and I shrugged. I wasn't the 'come on over and hang' kind of person in my past life so really, it was up to him.

"TV?" I offered, wincing. His TV was an old one that broke down so often, it was better to just do something else. Naruto's face looked troubled.

"I don't think so... hmmm. Should we... train?"

I looked at him suspiciously, "Did you do your homework?" Often when we were together, he would attempt to get out of his responsibilities and for a while now, I had been pushing him to do it, never helping, but still. It was my small way of helping my new best friend.

He scowled at me before saying, "No thanks to you."

"Many thanks, actually. I'm your motivator."

He looked thoughtful before nodding, "Guess that's true."

"Yup, and your mine."

He looked at me curiously then, "Whaddya mean?"

"I mean... well. You motivate me. Your whole outlook on life is amazing. No matter what, your strong, very strong, and I think your pretty much the most amazing person ever."

He blushed, mouth flopping open as he stared, "You... I, uh... thank you."

"No problem. You know what? Screw what other kids do at sleepovers, I'm cooking you food and then we'll just snuggle while I tell you stories."

He nodded, jumping up with a grin, "Yeah!"

* * *

**E/N**: FIINALLLY, that is over. Not a very funny chapter but I decided to allow this to lead Rikeya into character development and I hope you guys liked it even if it was kind of depressing. Anyway, Merry Early-Christmas! This extra long chapter is my present btw. Sorry for any mistakes, I hate editing with a passion. But I _tried._


	5. Sorry, Not Sorry

Dear InARealPickle (I hope it doesn't smell horrible in that pickle),

I'm sorry. Sorry that you don't like this story, that my OC annoys you, sorry there are plot holes, sorry that she's too much like Sakura for you.

But really, I'm not sorry.

First of all, IF YOU DON'T LIKE THEN DON'T READ. Secondly, my OC _is_ annoying. Do you wanna know why? Because people are ALL annoying, all of them. Real people have annoying sides to them. REAL PEOPLE. I'm basing this person off of myself and now I know that I'm doing a good job with her, considering she could get on the bad side of somebody.

Thirdly, there will always be plot holes galore considering I am a fifteen year old sophomore who will be too busy to spend the hours need to perfectly plan something without zero plot problems. the thing is, that before this thing even started, I said and I quote: 'this is humor based, so don't expect anything too serious.'

And lastly, her goal, in case you ignored that in your haste to leave such rude comments, is for the canon plot to be kept safe. How can she do that without taking on Sakura's role? So yes, she says Sakura's words, she relies on what she knows for emotional support, who wouldn't? When you're lost, all alone, in a strange world and you knew the future of it, wouldn't you also rely on past memories to guide you? Yes. Anyone would. It's animal instinct.

But thank you, you have given me a lot to think about and I'm sorry if my replying so openly would be seen as childish. I will not stand to see my writing being treated in such a way. Honestly, if you hadn't blocked PMing, then I would be able to keep it purely between us. But no, I had to bring it forward like this.

So for about a week more, I won't be able to update, and it isn't because of this. It's because the semester end is coming and I have way too many things to worry right now. Anyway, thanks to the ones who have supported me! I mean, holy cow 90 follows? Am I dreaming?! Have a nice week and until next time, be your own annoying self~!

When I update, this thing will be deleted~


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